'Scream 6' actress Hayden Panettiere says she didn't take her decision to reconnect with Brian Hickerson 'lightly.'
Hayden Panettiere is speaking out about her famously tumultuous relationship with Brian Hickerson. The Scream 6 beauty, 33, also hinted that their relationship status has shifted since Brian’s multiple arrests for alleged domestic violence, followed by a 2020 split. “I did not do any of this lightly,” the star told The New York Times about reconnecting with him, in a profile published on April 4. “He knows he deserved what happened to him.”
The newspaper also noted that she admitted, “There are feelings there, yes,” and referred to him as “babe.” Perhaps most importantly, the Bring It On: All Or Nothing actress said their apparent reconciliation is “contingent” on Brian continuing his sobriety, and it happened after they both got sober.
She recently appeared with Brian at her brother Jansen Panettiere‘s funeral, earlier this month. The mom of one and former real estate agent originally began dating back in 2018. Brian was arrested twice after alleged incidents with Hayden — once in 2018, and again in 2020, after which they went their separate ways. “She’s in a good place right now,” an insider told Us Weekly in June of 2020. “She’s on the path to recovery.”
However, a fight broke out between Brian and some hotel patrons in March of 2022 at L.A.’s Sunset Marquis, and she tried to break it up, creating yet another landmark in the drama between the on/off couple. “I was on top of the world and I ruined it,” she revealed to fans in a raw 2022 interview with PEOPLE, addressing both addiction issues and postpartum depression after the 2014 birth of her daughter, Kaya Evdokia. Hayden’s ex Wladimir Klitschko currently has custody of Kaya. “I’d think I hit rock bottom, but then there’s that trap door that opens,” she continued.
“I put a lot of work into myself and I had to be willing to be incredibly honest,” she added. And she noted that her journey to sobriety has made her feel “accomplished.” “This hasn’t been easy and there were a lot of ups and downs,” the former Nashville star explained. “But I don’t regret even the ugliest things that have happened to me. I feel incredibly accomplished. And I feel like I have a second chance.”
