Hayden Panettiere Dead: Mom Lesley Vogel Slams Brian Hickerson

Hayden Panettiere‘s estranged mom has heated words for the actress’ on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson.

Lesley Vogel called out the 37-year-old in a statement addressing her daughter’s Aug. 16 passing.

“This person in her life that we have been trying to get rid of for quite some time was with her at her death,” she told NBC News on Aug. 18, “and that was Brian Hickerson.”

“I think Hayden was an amazingly talented person in so many departments,” Vogel, 70, continued, “and I think young people who grow up in the entertainment industry—it is a struggle and it’s a very challenging industry and it’s not unusual for them to sadly find the wrong path.”

E! News has reached out to Hickerson’s attorney for comment but hasn’t heard back.

According to a Greenville Police Department report obtained by NBC News, Hickerson and his brother Zach Hickerson were inside the South Carolina apartment complex where authorities responded to Panettiere experiencing cardiac arrest.