Hayden Panettiere’s memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, has been making plenty of headlines since its release. While promoting her new memoir the actress has made startling disclosures. The Nashville actress, described an incident from when she was just eighteen years old, involving an unnamed friend who got her into bed with a famous man while the two were out on a boat. Online speculation quickly pointed fingers at Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Diana Jenkins. However Jenkins was not having it.
As per a report shared by TMZ, Jenkins’ spokesperson put out a firm denial on Wednesday, May 13.
“Diana has had to deal with false online rumors before, and sadly this is just another example of that. So let me be 100 percent clear about this: It most certainly is not Diana, and anyone who claims it is her will be sued.“
That is not the first time Jenkins, who is now fifty-three years old, has taken this approach. The spokesperson confirmed she had previously pursued similar legal action against others and was successful each time.
The memoir has brought several other surprises from Panettiere’s press tour. She came out as bisexual and opened up about the choice to hand over custody of her daughter while navigating addiction, anxiety, and postpartum depression.
Hayden Panettiere opens up about being physically placed in bed with a famous man while out at sea:
As per a report shared by People, Hayden Panettiere, now thirty-six, opened up about the experience while promoting This Is Me: A Reckoning, speaking on the May 11 episode of the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast. She described being “told to perform” sexual acts with an older man she had met through someone she trusted.
Hayden Panettiere was eighteen at the time and starring on Heroes as Claire Bennet, an indestructible cheerleader with super healing powers. Panettiere opened up about her past and shared that,
“The fact that I was 18, even though I’d lived such a huge life and I thought I was oh so mature at 18 … scientifically, your frontal lobes don’t develop until we’re what, 25, 26?” she shared.
“So even though I felt like I could make healthy decisions, safe decisions, I wasn’t capable of being fully aware of what was going on around me,” Panettiere added.
The incident took place in a “very small room” on a boat. Being “literally out to sea” made it all the more inescapable. What affected Hayden Panettiere more was that she had not anticipated it coming from someone she considered “a protector and somebody who had my back.”
“She physically put me in the bed next to this undressed man who was very famous,” Panettiere continued.
Hayden Panettiere, who now shares a daughter, Kaya, with ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko, said she was instantly on alert.
“That lion in me, that fire in me … my hair stood on end and I became ferocious. I was like, ‘This is not happening,'” she said.
She bolted to another room.
“There was no jumping off and swimming away. And there was nobody who was going to be empathetic to my situation. I realized that this was nothing new to them,” she added.
Hayden Panettiere on betrayal and the father who has always been her safe space:
In hindsight, Panettiere said the incident reshaped her understanding of trust. She pointed to her father, Skip Panettiere, as someone who has always been a “safe space” and kept her “grounded.”
“When you really find somebody that you trust, you hold on to them for dear life and you feel so lucky. So to be betrayed like that is just an awful feeling,” Panettiere shared.
Panettiere has been candid about more than just the boat incident in recent weeks. As per a report shared by Us Weekly, the actress opened up about her childhood fame, surviving addiction and abuse, and more in the publication’s cover story.
“I think people will be surprised by what they learn,” she said.
That being said, the experience has prompted Panettiere to take a harder look at who she allows into her life. She admitted to Shetty, who is now thirty-eight years old, that her judgment has not always served her well.
“I’ve not seen clearly immediately … They really were able to pull the wool over my eyes,” she said.
Hayden Panettiere was careful, though, not to paint everyone in her past with the same brush.
“I have, throughout the years, been fortunate enough to meet incredible people. Incredibly loyal, and genuinely genuinely good,” she added.
Edited by Ryan D’souza