By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-21 20:37:05 | Updated at 2026-08-21 21:03:56
49 minutes ago
Before she was found unresponsive at an apartment in South Carolina, beloved actress Hayden Panettiere sought to legally protect herself from her on-off boyfriend and convicted abuser, Brian Hickerson, years before her tragic death.
In a 2020 petition for an out-of-state restraining order filed by the late actress, who died from a suspected overdose on Sunday, Panettiere gave excruciating details of the abuse she experienced during her relationship with Hickerson, which began in 2018.
In the court document obtained by the Daily Mail, Panettiere claimed that Hickerson's behavior drastically escalates 'when alcohol is involved,' describing alleged incidents in which he 'pulls my hair, swings me around and hits me, spits in my face.'
The actress, 36, also stated Hickerson, 37, 'has dumped water over me while I'm in bed' and 'thrown objects at my face'.
The original petition for temporary order of protection was filed in Teton County court in Wyoming on February 17, 2020, just days after Hickerson was arrested for domestic battery on Valentine's Day.
A Teton County police officer had responded to the domestic dispute that occurred at an Airbnb residence where the couple was staying on February 14, 2020.
Actress Hayden Panettiere, 36, was found 'unresponsive' on Sunday following a suspected overdose. Her on-off boyfriend, Brian Hickerson (left), was at the South Carolina apartment where she died (pictured in 2018)
The officer wrote in the incident report that Hickerson 'started throwing Panettiere around' and 'struck Panettiere with a closed fist on the right side of her face.' He described Panettiere's face as 'red and swollen,' as well as a 'fresh scrape and swelling on the top of her left hand.'
Hickerson was subsequently charged with domestic battery and pleaded not guilty to the charge in April of that year.
The actress later filed the out-of-state protective order in California, where she and Hickerson lived, in July 2020 and asked the Superior Court of California to uphold the petition filed in Wyoming.
This was not the first time Hickerson was arrested on domestic abuse charges throughout his tumultuous relationship with Panettiere.
Just one year into dating, Hickerson was arrested in Los Angeles and charged with felony domestic violence for the first time in May 2019 and released on a $50,000 bond. Hickerson pleaded not guilty to one count of felony domestic violence.
During a preliminary hearing, which took place in Los Angeles Superior Court in July that year, an LAPD officer testified that she found Panettiere 'bruised and swollen' in an upstairs bedroom when she responded to the incident at the Los Angeles home on May 2, 2019.
The officer said she noticed Panettiere had 'bruising on her eyelids,' 'a swollen face,' 'bruising on both her arms' and marks on the 'left side' of her neck. Panettiere told the officer that they had been drinking earlier that night at Cabo Cantina in Hollywood and went back to their home, where Hickerson 'allegedly struck her three times on the face with an open palm,' causing her nose to bleed.
Panettiere then went to the upstairs bedroom to go to sleep, but Hickerson got 'on top of her and grabbed her face.'
Panettiere filed an out-of-state protective order in California in July 2020 following Hickerson's multiple domestic violence arrests throughout their relationship (pictured in 2018)
A mugshot of Hickerson (seen) was taken following his February 2020 arrest for domestic battery in Wyoming, a misdemeanor in the state
When asked whether Panettiere 'appeared intoxicated' during questioning, the LAPD officer noted that Panettiere's responses were 'jumping around' but she 'did understand the questions and readily provided answers.'
Panettiere claimed Hickerson also 'harmed her' in Puerto Rico the day before, the officer testified during the preliminary hearing, which was where Panettiere allegedly 'sustained the bruises on her arms.'
An attorney for Hickerson argued that there was a 'mutual combat between two parties,' and asked for the felony domestic violence charge relating to the May incident be dismissed.
While a judge denied the attorney's motion, the case was ultimately dismissed at the end of September.
The aspiring actor and real estate agent was later charged with seven felony counts, including assault, injuring a girlfriend and dissuading a witness from prosecuting a crime, as well as misdemeanor battery relating to domestic violence.
In April 2021, Hickerson pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring Panettiere. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail and four years' probation, plus $500 in fines and mandatory domestic violence classes.
Panettiere was found dead on Sunday in an apartment block located in Greenville, South Carolina. She was described as 'unresponsive' and in 'cardiac arrest' after a suspected overdose, according to a recording of the 911 call.
The Greenville County Coroner's Office has said Panettiere's cause of death remains under investigation.
Panettiere and Hickerson began dating in 2018. He was arrested multiple times throughout their relationship, eventually pleading no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend in 2021 (pictured in 2019)
Panettiere was pictured in May 2026 at a book signing for her memoir, This is Me: A Reckoning, in which she detailed her tumultuous relationship with Hickerson and her struggles with addiction and depression
A heavily redacted police report obtained by the Daily Mail later revealed that Hickerson was at the apartment with Panettiere when she was pronounced dead, along with his brother Zach Hickerson. An officer at the scene said Zach was 'very emotional' amid the distressing scene, but Hickerson didn't show any emotion until Panettiere was declared dead.
Panettiere, who soared to fame in the TV shows 'Heroes' and 'Nashville' while enduring struggles with alcohol addiction and depression, would have turned 37 on Friday.
She had most recently opened up about her tumultuous relationship with Hickerson, as well as her troubled childhood, struggles with substance abuse and battle with postpartum depression in her memoir published three months before her death.
The actress welcomed a daughter, Kaya, with Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko in December 2014, but made the difficult decision to relinquish full custody in 2018 amid her postpartum depression and addiction to opioids and drinking.
In 2020, Panettiere entered a treatment center for what ultimately became an eight-month rehab stint. She later described her sobriety journey as an 'everyday battle' to the New York Times in 2023, though the status of her sobriety on the day of her death remains unclear.
Hickerson allegedly showed police a 'bag of medication' that Panettiere had been taking at the time of her death, the redacted police report read. In a statement to TMZ on Friday, Zach claimed he called 911 while Hickerson administered Narcan, a nasal spray used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
On Thursday, Hickerson broke his silence four days after Panettiere's death in a statement released through his lawyers.
'Hayden's death remains under investigation and it is important to allow that investigation to proceed,' said Hickerson's attorney Sloan Ellis, from the Ellis Hinton law firm.
'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.'
