Hayden Panettiere Opens Up About Traumatic Moment At 18 When She Was Put In Bed With 'Very Famous Undressed Man'

Hayden Panettiere has looked back on a frightening moment from her teenage years. She said someone she believed was her friend physically put her in bed beside an undressed A-list celebrity.

The Heroes actor is now promoting her new memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning. While speaking with Jay Shetty on his On Purpose podcast, she shared a disturbing allegation about being placed in a scary situation on a boat when she was only 18 years old.

"You write about a moment in your career where a friend of yours takes you onto a boat," Shetty asked the 36-year-old actor during the interview. "You're led to a room which has an older man in it and then basically told to perform sexual acts."

Panettiere went on to explain that she was 18 when the incident took place. At that age, she felt grown-up and believed she understood the world around her.

Looking back, she said that sense of maturity did not mean she was ready to see every risk or understand what was happening before it became dangerous.

Her comments framed the incident as more than one bad moment. She described it as a situation where trust, age, and power all played a role in leaving her exposed.

'By the time I realised I was in danger, I was quite literally out to sea'

As she thought back on being placed in such a vulnerable position with an older man she described as very famous, Panettiere reflected on the gap between feeling mature and being fully prepared to protect herself.

She spoke about how her age mattered, even though she had already lived much of her life in public and had spent years working in the entertainment industry.

She said: "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?"

The actor revealed the frightening allegation on a recent podcast episode Jason Mendez/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

"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."

"By the time I realised I was in danger, I was quite literally out to sea."

She described the memory as shocking and deeply unsettling. Panettiere said she did not know what the unnamed man wanted from her until she was taken downstairs into what she called a very small room. Once inside, she found him undressed and waiting, which made the situation feel even more unsafe and trapped.

'This was nothing new to them'

"It was led by somebody that I had grown to trust and see as a protector and somebody who had my back," she explained, making clear that the betrayal came from someone she had trusted and seen as a safe person in her life.

"She physically put me in the bed next to this undressed man who was very famous."

Panettiere said the man acted as if the scene was normal, almost like it was an average day for him. That reaction made the moment feel even more alarming to her, and she said it pushed her into survival mode.

Panettiere says she went into survival mode during in the incident Instagram/haydenpanettiere

"That lion in me, that fire in me … my hair stood on end and I became ferocious," she recalled. "I was like, 'This is not happening.'"

Panettiere then said she got out of the room and spent the rest of the night hiding in another part of the boat. She could not simply leave, because she was stuck onboard and had no way to get off or make it back to the shop on her own.

"There was nobody who was going to be empathetic to my situation. I realised that this was nothing new to them," she added, explaining that the lack of concern around her made the experience feel even more isolating.

While speaking about her book, Panettiere has also opened up about her past relationship with Wladimir Klitschko. The former couple share an 11-year-old daughter, and Panettiere pushed back against claims that she abandoned the child after she and Klitschko separated in 2018.

"The idea that anybody would think that I would just give away my child and be OK with it is heartbreaking," she said. She explained that her daughter moved to Europe with her father while Panettiere entered inpatient treatment for mental health and substance abuse, a period she has described as painful but needed for her recovery.

"By the time I finally got healthy, I felt like it would have been unfair of me to and selfish of me to try to pull her out away from this life that she had," she added, saying she had to think about the stable life her daughter already had, even after Panettiere herself became healthier.

Panettiere also addressed her coparenting relationship with ex Wladimir Klitschko, saying the youngster is 'happy and healthy mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually' Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

Panettiere said her daughter is doing well, and she pushed back against the idea that the separation left her child feeling unwanted or left behind.

She made clear that, from her view, the choice was tied to her daughter’s stability and well-being rather than a lack of love or care.

"She is happy and healthy mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. She in no way feels abandoned."