“Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum Diana Jenkins is shutting down rumors that she was the woman Hayden Panettiere claimed put her in bed with a “very famous” and “undressed” man at 18 years old.
“Diana has had to deal with false online rumors before, and sadly this is just another example of that,” Jenkins’ spokesperson told TMZ Wednesday.
“So let me be 100 percent clear about this: It most certainly is not Diana, and anyone who claims it is her will be sued.”
A rep for Panettiere did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
The “Heroes” star, now 36, recounted the harrowing memory both in her new memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” and in her Monday appearance on the “On Purpose with Jay Shetty” podcast.
In her Monday interview, Panettiere claimed she was on a boat with friends when she was “led by somebody that I had grown to trust and see as a protector and somebody who had my back” down the stairs into a “very small” room.
“She physically put me in the bed next to this undressed man who was very famous,” she remembered, adding that for the unnamed male celebrity “[it was] like this was just an average day for him and this is something that happens all the time.”
In that moment, the actress said she went into survival mode and pulled out “that lion in me, that fire in me.”
“My hair stood on end and I became ferocious,” she noted. “I was like, ‘This is not happening.’”
However, because they were on a boat out on the water, she was trapped with the woman who trapped her in the compromising position.
“There was no jumping off and swimming away,” she explained. “And I realized that there was nobody who was going to be empathetic to my situation, that this was nothing new to them.”
The situation taught the “Nashville” star that while she thought she was “oh-so-mature” at the time after having lived “such a huge life,” she learned that wasn’t exactly the truth.
“So even though I felt like I could make healthy decisions and safe decisions, I wasn’t capable of being fully aware of what was going on around me,” she said.
Panettiere refrained from explicitly naming the woman involved in the story. Though, internet sleuths quickly speculated the woman to be Jenkins due to the stars’ formerly close friendship.
“This is Me: A Reckoning” is available for purchase now.
