Could the people who enabled Hayden Panettiere’s addiction be held accountable? We saw that with Friends star Matthew Perry, who died in October 2023 of a ketamine overdose. He was given ketamine, which is a lawful drug that was being used unlawfully, by his assistant.
As anybody who has dealt with drug addiction probably knows, it is not all heroin and illicit drugs that people take. It is often a legal drug that you can get prescribed by a doctor, and the person gets addicted in some way, shape, or form, and then abuses it in a way that is obviously illegal.
Matthew Perry’s Death
If you’re a Hollywood star in particular, it takes a whole team of people around you to feed that addiction. In Matthew Perry’s case, it took an assistant, it took a former drug counselor. Five individuals, including a personal assistant and medical professionals, ended up pleading guilty to charges related to the illegal supply chain that got the ketamine to him. People on his team made nearly all of the illegal drug buys on Perry’s behalf, which would make some sense. These Hollywood stars are not going out into the alleys by themselves in the middle of night, especially somebody as famous as Matthew Perry.
Hayden Panettiere wasn’t as famous as Perry, but she was famous and it does make you wonder who got her whatever drug she was on. We heard in the 911 call “overdose.” All of this has yet to be confirmed by the toxicology report, which they say will take months.
The preliminary autopsy is complete and found “no signs of trauma.” A representative for the Greenville County Coroner’s Office told The Hollywood Reporter it will be eight weeks before Panettiere’s full report is released to the public.
If that is true, then we are looking at two months to find out what was in her system. But in the Matthew Perry case, we knew it was ketamine and his assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, was the one buying it for him and then shooting him up with it. Iwamasa was the first one to reach a plea deal and wound up singing like a bird against everybody else.
Jasveen Sangha, the woman who prosecutors referred to as the “Ketamine Queen,” admitted to running a serious drug operation and selling Perry the dose of ketamine that he took on the day he died. She has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. The assistant got 41 months. Others pleaded guilty to lesser charges and are serving home confinement.
I do seriously wonder whether there could be similar charges if it is found that Hayden Panettier OD’d on some sort of a drug that she was given by doctors who were too willing to look the other way. How many times have we seen this with these celebrities or singers? I don’t think this case is over, even if the boyfriend had nothing to do with it – and I have absolutely no satisfaction that he didn’t.
The On-Again, Off-Again Boyfriend
According to authorities in South Carolina, the Greenville Police Department and emergency personnel responded to a report of an unresponsive female at an apartment complex just before 2pm Sunday. Panettiere arrived in South Carolina from Los Angeles just a day prior with her on-again-off-again real estate agent boyfriend Brian Hickerson, who is from the state. Hickerson was once arrested for punching Panettiere in the face and was accused of abusing her multiple times over.
They were together for at least 24 hours prior to her death. She had been going back and back and back to this admitted domestic abuser, which is very common. I have done a lot of work in this field, and Hayden Panettiere being in her cyclical relationship with a man who was punching her in the face is actually not that extraordinary.
And by the way, if you think it only happens to women of low socioeconomic means or who are uneducated, etc, you are dead wrong. Very sophisticated, well-off, well-educated women get abused all the time. It is unfortunate, but it is true. And as I read up on Hayden’s abuse by this guy, I have a lot of questions. I have more questions today than I did yesterday about this Brian Hickerson and what role, if any, he may have played here.
I realize they are saying “no signs of trauma.” It doesn’t look like he beat her. I am not suggesting otherwise, but what does abuse look like? Is it abuse for you to funnel drugs to a known addict who is struggling with her addiction? Is it abuse for you to do them right alongside her potentially?
I don’t know whether he did. I just know that there was some question by TMZ about whether two people needed an ambulance. This was his apartment in which she died, and there was reportedly at least a third person. It might have been his brother or his friend. No one is saying exactly who the third person was. They are referring to this person generically as an acquaintance. But we will find out. We will know.
But who gave her the drugs? Who watched her ingest the drugs? Who, if anyone, helped her ingest the drugs? Who was responsible for the Narcan that was found next to her when the paramedics arrived? That is a new detail we just learned. It is a nasal spray that is used to bring addicts who have OD’d back to consciousness. Reportedly, a vial was found next to her, but it obviously did not work. You can bet the paramedics tried to do that same thing to her unsuccessfully.
They knew it was an OD. How did they know that? That is one of the questions we have. Was it just from pill bottles found nearby, or did someone tell them? Where was Brian? Isn’t that one of your questions? Where was Brian when the EMTs showed up? What was his condition? Was he taken to the hospital? Where is he now? What does he have to say?
Because as far as I can tell, he spent the last five years beating the shit out of this woman. He seemed to have absolutely no care whatsoever for her well-being. So, what role, if any, did he play? It is a fair question. Hayden Panettiere had spent the past 10 years of her life abusing herself, so it is very possible the answer is no role other than sidekick. But there is more to be investigated around this boyfriend.
What Comes Next
I think they will get to the bottom of what killed her. I think that toxicology report will tell us everything we need to know, and I actually think there could be arrests made because she is so high profile and because the guy with her is, in my opinion, such a villain. There is another shoe to drop here because this has been going on for a long time.
I will say the one wrinkle in it is that she apparently had a very bad back injury not too long ago after being thrown from a zebra while on the set of some movie, which would justify a pain pill prescription. But whatever happened inside that house was not justified, and I want to know exactly the condition that he was in too. Why was there a report that two ambulances were needed? All of this we deserve to know.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,381 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.