When Hayden Panettiere was just 18 years old, she reportedly “undressed” and found herself in bed with a “very famous” man.
The actress detailed the “shocking” encounter during an appearance on Monday’s episode of the podcast “On Purpose with Jay Shetty.” I will detail this encounter in my forthcoming memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning.
Panettiere, now 36, recalled what she believed was a fun night out on the boat with friends when she was “caught off guard” and felt “in danger.”
The “Heroes” star claimed that she was led down the stairs and into a “very small” room “led by someone I trust, who I view as a protector, who has my back.”
“She physically put me in bed next to a man with no clothes on who was very famous,” she recalled, adding that the man (who did not give his name) “acted as if this was an ordinary day for him and something that happens all the time.”
Panettiere said she went into survival mode and tapped into “the lion in me, the fire in me.”
“My hair stood on end and I became violent,” she said. “I thought, ‘That’s not going to happen.'”
Panettile said that despite his instincts, he was “literally at sea” and the best he could do was run out of the room and hide somewhere on the boat.
“There was no jumping or swimming away,” she explained. “Then I realized that no one else could relate to my situation and that this was nothing new to them.”
The “Nashville” actress believed she was “very mature” enough at the time after living a “very wonderful life,” but now she realizes that wasn’t the case.
“So even though I felt like I could make healthy and safe decisions, I wasn’t fully aware of what was going on around me,” she said.
Panettiere has been doing press work in preparation for the May 19 release of “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” and recently made headlines for coming out as bisexual.
In an interview with Us Weekly, she detailed the “scary” experience of dating women while avoiding the paparazzi, and how she “didn’t have the courage to put myself out there emotionally” because she didn’t want to hide that part of herself.
Panettiere said it was “better late than never” to come out, but her estranged mother Leslie Vogel told the Daily Mail it was “interesting timing” for her daughter to share the news now.
