Lesley Vogel is trying to comprehend a loss few parents could imagine after saying goodbye to both of her children within three years. Hayden Panettiere‘s mom, who has had a complicated relationship with her daughter, spoke about her grief during the Monday, August 24, episode of Good Morning America, eight days after the Heroes actress died at 36.
Vogel’s son, Jansen Panettiere, died in 2023 at age 28. “It’s a process. And I think it will probably hit me later on,” Vogel told ABC News reporter Rhiannon Ally.
Lesley Vogel Says Hayden Panettiere’s Passing Still Doesn’t Feel Real
Vogel, 70, became emotional while recalling the moment she learned that Hayden was gone. “I was numb. I was just numb,” she said. “I just couldn’t feel anything. I still [am] not grasping this is real. It doesn’t feel real. My mind tells me it’s not at times. It’s going to be a process.”
She also pushed back against people who have criticized how she has handled the loss publicly. “I would say to the haters out there, you don’t have a right to tell me how I mourn the loss of my second child,” Vogel said. “That’s my domain.”
GettyAsked how she finds a way forward after losing both Hayden and Jansen, Vogel pointed to resilience.
“I think you just have to find that inner strength,” she said. “I have been knocked down throughout my life, and I’m not complaining, because I have the strength to get back up. … It’s how we get back up that defines who we are.”
How Does Lesley Vogel Want Hayden Panettiere to Be Remembered?
Vogel said she hopes people remember far more than the difficult final years of her daughter’s life.”I want Hayden to be remembered for the talented, beautiful, outgoing, intelligent woman she really was,” she said.
Vogel also said she believes Hayden suffered privately, despite outward signs of professional success.
“But I also want people to understand that it is my belief that she was suffering,” she said. “People don’t understand that you can have all of this, but that doesn’t mean that’s what’s going on [inside] matches.”
Vogel said she began noticing changes in Hayden during her teenage years, around the time she became a breakout star on Heroes.
Lesley Vogel Previously Spoke About Hayden’s Struggles
Vogel spoke to The New York Times on Sunday, August 23, and revealed that she spent time with Hayden in Los Angeles about a year before her passing.
“She was in pain,” Vogel said. “She was afraid. She couldn’t physically function properly.”
Her latest interview comes after Gayle King criticized an earlier family statement that said Hayden had “lost her way” and was no longer staying “true to herself.”
Vogel told the Daily Mail on Saturday, August 22, that she was “very, very hurt and deeply disappointed” by the criticism.
“No one reached out to me before. It’s shameful. It’s unconscionable to me,” she said.
What Is Known About Hayden Panettiere’s Passing?
GettyHayden’s father, Skip Panettiere, confirmed her passing on Sunday, August 16, after she was found unresponsive in South Carolina. An official cause of death has not been determined. People reported that an autopsy found “no signs of trauma,” while authorities continue investigating the circumstances surrounding her passing.
Hayden is survived by her parents and her 11-year-old daughter, Kaya, whom she shared with former fiancé Wladimir Klitschko.
For Vogel, however, the days since losing her daughter remain about processing an unimaginable second loss and trying to find a way forward one day at a time.
