Inside Hayden Panettiere’s Relationship with Brian Hickerson

The couple's romance spanned years, marked by repeated splits and reconciliations despite allegations of abuse. Now, a newly released incident report is shedding light on the final moments before the actress was pronounced dead.

Years after going their separate ways, Hayden Panettiere's relationship with her on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson remained anything but simple. In the days since news of her death broke, it has come to light that Hickerson was present when she died.

The pair first started dating in 2018, shortly after Panettiere ended her engagement to former fiancé Wladimir Klitschko, with whom she shares her daughter and only child, Kaya Evdokia Klitschko, now 11.

"Hayden and Brian have been on and off for years, but have pretty much always remained in contact," a source told Us Weekly. "Hayden had a very hard time cutting Brian out of her life. She did it for short periods, but they would eventually reconnect."

"He was by her side for Jansen's funeral. She spent the holidays with him and his family in South Carolina in 2024," the source added. "She remained very close with his entire family and spoke to them often."

Panettiere's relationship with Hickerson resurfaced this week after a Greenville City Police Department incident report, released Tuesday, August 18, revealed that both Hickerson and his brother, Zach Hickerson, were at the apartment at the time of her death.

The report, obtained by Us Weekly, states that Greenville City Police Department officials spoke with Hickerson and his brother at an apartment complex in Greenville, South Carolina, on the day Panettiere passed away.

"After EMS officially declared Hayden deceased, I escorted Zach and Brian out of the apartment," the incident report stated, describing the events of Sunday, August 16.

It continued, "I observed Zach to be very emotional while EMS were working on Hayden. Brian did not become emotional until EMS declared her officially deceased." Speaking to an officer at the scene, Zach clarified that the actress "was his brother's girlfriend."

According to the report, Hickerson handed over a "bag of medication" that Panettiere was "currently on," per the redacted document.

Investigators also executed a search warrant, and CCTV footage reportedly captured all three individuals coming and going from the apartment in the time surrounding her death.

The report further confirmed that multiple medics performed life-saving measures on the unresponsive actress for "an extended amount of time" before she was pronounced dead.

Just months earlier, in May 2026, Panettiere released her memoir "This Is Me: A Reckoning," in which she opened up about the alleged abuse she suffered at Hickerson's hands and spoke candidly about her struggle to leave the relationship for good.

"Getting an abusive person out of your life is like trying to rip a weed out that is so entangled into your life, and every time you pull it out another weed pops back up and you're like, I thought I killed this," she said while promoting the book.

"They always manage to find a way to slither back in, even if you're an incredibly strong-willed person. What happened in Wyoming [on Valentine's Day in February 2020 following another alleged domestic dispute] helped push me in the right direction, but it still took me a long time. I still struggled to fully put a kibosh to it for a while."