Brian Hickerson’s Attorney Breaks Silence on Hayden Panettiere's Death

Hayden Panettiere's on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson—who police said was at the scene of her Aug. 16 death—broke his silence over the Heroes alum's untimely passing through his attorney.ByOlivia Evans Aug 20, 2026 6:54 PM| Updated 34 minutes agoTagsBrian Hickerson’s Attorney Speaks Out Amid Hayden Panettiere's Death InvestigationAn attorney for Hayden Panettiere's on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson is speaking out in the wake of her death. Days after the Heroes alum died on Aug. 16 at age 36, a lawyer for Brian—who police said was at the South Carolina apartment complex where Panettiere was found unresponsive—addressed the details surrounding her passing. "Hayden's death remains under investigation and it is important to allow that investigation to proceed," his attorney Sloan Ellis told TMZ in a statement Aug. 20. "As has been publicly reported, police confirmed there were no signs of foul play. Out of respect for Hayden's loved ones and the ongoing investigation, there will be no further comment at this time." In a Greenville Police Department report obtained E! News, authorities said Brian and his brother Zach Hickerson were on scene as authorities responded to Panettiere experiencing cardiac arrest. The siblings confirmed to police that they were the ones who called 911, while Zach referred to Panettiere as "his brother's girlfriend." Though Zach was "very emotional" as EMS workers performed administered CPR on Panettiere, the report stated that Brian "did not become emotional" until the Nashville star was pronounced dead just after 2:30 p.m.Brian—who had traveled South Carolina with Panettiere one day before her death—later provided emergency responders with a “bag of medication” she was taking at the time, according to the report. Two months before her death, Panettiere told E! News she was single and open to the “right person” entering her orbit. “The door is not closed,” she said at the time. “I love to be in love.” When it came to her relationship with Brian, who served a month in jail for a 2020 assault on the her, Panettiere told the New York Times in 2023, “There are feelings there, yes.”gotpap/Bauer-Griffin/GC ImagesBut the Ice Princess actress—mom to 11-year-old daughter Kaya with ex Wladimir Klitschko—was firm that any romance with Brian was “contingent on him continuing this road of recovery.” As she put of welcoming him back into her life, “I did not do any of this lightly.” For a look back at Panettiere's life in photos, read on.Photo by Ann Limongello/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images1994Photo by Margaret Norton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images1996Photo by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images1998Photo by Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage2001Photo by Evan Agostini/Getty Images2003Photo by Evan Agostini/Getty Images2004Photo by M. Caulfield/WireImage for ABC Cable Networks Group2004Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images2005Photo by Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage2006Photo by Sylvain Gaboury/FilmMagic2006Photo by Valerie Macon/Getty Images2008Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)2010Jason Merritt/Getty Images2012Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images2013Photo by Kevork Djansezian/NBC/NBCUniversal via Getty Images2014Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Time Warner Cable2014Lars Baron/Bongarts/Getty Images2015Rick Diamond/Getty Images2016Roy Rochlin/FilmMagic2017Hayden Panettiere/Twitter 2018Amanda Edwards/Getty Images2019 Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images2022Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images2023Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images2024Jeff Neira/Disney via Getty Images2026