23 May 2026
Hayden Panettiere “associated praise with love” as a child.
Hayden Panettiere found fame as a child
The 36-year-old actress first found fame as a child, and her mother, the former actor Lesley Vogel, managed her professional and financial affairs in the early part of her career – but Hayden admits that they developed an unhealthy relationship, with the actress conflating praise for love.
She told The Independent: “Getting that kind of praise so young made me feel empowered and happy.
“But it was also all wrapped up in pleasing my mom. Her opinions were the most important to me. I associated praise with love. So being praised felt like being loved.”
Hayden opens up about her relationship with her mom in her new memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, and the actress insists it’s a central part of her career in Hollywood.
The blonde beauty – who has daughter Kaya, nine, with Wladimir Klitschko, her ex-partner – explained: “She’s a very complex person. And I get a lot of that from her, genetically.
“I don’t want to offend anybody, or drag anybody, or hurt anyone’s feelings. But I knew that if I wasn’t honest about my relationship with her, I wouldn’t be being honest at all. She’s a huge part of the person I am today.”
Hayden believes her mom was more interested in her career than her personal well-being.
The actress said: “Having a normal relationship [with me] wasn’t something that interested her. And it was also maybe something she wasn’t even capable of.”
Hayden recently admitted that she viewed her mom as her “boss” during her younger years.
The actress began her full-time career in 1994, when she played Sarah Roberts in the soap opera series One Life to Live, and Hayden recently recalled developing a business-like relationship with her mother.
Hayden – who has also starred in TV shows such as Nashville and Heroes – told the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast: “Everything was business. I became the confidant and the assistant and the therapist and the shoulder to cry on and everything but her child.”
Hayden eventually worked up the courage to sever their professional relationship with her mom when she was 19.
She said: “I said to her, ‘I don’t want us to work together anymore. I just want you to be my mom.'”
