Hayden Panettiere revealed she was sex trafficked at 18 years old to a 'very famous' man

Actress Hayden Panettiere, who was found dead in Greenville, South Carolina on Saturday at the age of 36, revealed in May that at just 18 she had been sex trafficked by a woman she trusted to a powerful, famous man. She told Jay Shetty on his podcast that she "wasn't capable of being fully aware of what was going on around me." 

"It wasn't until I found myself in predicaments that I realized it, like my perspective completely shifted and I realized that I was in danger. But by the time I'd realized I was in danger, I was quite literally out to sea," she said.

Panettiere said she was on a boat having a good time when she was brought by a woman she had "grown to trust" to a naked famous man in a small room who was expecting sex. She said the woman "physically put me in the bed next to this undressed man who was very famous," that his hands were folded behind his head, and "this was just, you know, an average day for him and this is something that happens all the time."

She escaped and hid out on the ship, but said there was no one on the ship who "was going to be empathetic" to her situation. She said she was disappointed to be let down by someone she trusted.

Her friend Erick Orellana spoke to Page Six of the New York Post, saying that she was already suffering health problems ahead of her untimely death. She "suffered earlier this year with her back," he said. Panettiere died as a result of cardiac arrest following a suspected drug overdose.

Panettiere's pain, Orellana said, was "really severe" and made it "hard for her to move her legs." Panettiere was seen using crutches at a Los Angeles airport in March, where she was photographed with her boyfriend Brian Hickerson. Orellana told Page Six he thought she was "starting to be on the mend," though he noted that she "suffered from anxiety at all times" and the medication she took for that "could impact her speech."

On-again-off-again boyfriend Hickerson had pleaded no contest to two felony counts in April 2021, which were the result of violent incidents between himself and Panettiere over the near-year period from May 2019 to January 2020. He recently tried to have a judge reduce those felony charges, but a judge declined to do so. He's been trying to get those reduced for over a year, to no avail. Panettiere wrote about the abuse she suffered in her memoir "This is Me: A Reckoning." 

Narcan was found at the scene of her death and an autopsy revealed no foul play or trauma. "An autopsy was completed today. At autopsy, no signs of trauma were discovered that would have contributed to the death," said the Coroner's Office. "This investigation remains active and ongoing. No further details are available for release at this time."