Griff Furst, who directed Hayden Panettiere in one of her final films, has spoken out in an August 19 Instagram video about being invited by her team to take part in an “intervention” to save the troubled starlet.
Furst says after his 2025 film “A Breed Apart” in which Hayden starred was completed, he remained in communication with her team, and “what eventually got determined was that she might need an intervention and I got asked to participate.”
He went on to share the the planned intervention never actually happened as far as he knows, and explained “I wasn’t leading the charge on that and it wouldn’t have been appropriate for me.”
“A Breed Apart” was Hayden’s second-to-last movie. Her final film was the 2026 psychological thriller “Sleepwalker,” which came out in January.
Griff Furst Says He Was Rooting for Hayden Panettiere to ‘Beat the Addiction that She Spoke About’
In Wednesday’s video, Furst said he was asked by several news outlets to share his experiences with Hayden, but chose to post his message directly to social media to make sure the most important parts were not lost in someone else’s edit.
He said, “When I think about this, it’s not just a Hayden story. Because I grew up on movie sets and I know a whole lot of child actors very well. And I understand what it does to somebody to be put in front of a camera before they’re old enough to consent.”
He pointed out that Hayden became a working actress when she was just 11 months old, before continuing, “So I was rooting for Hayden to beat the addiction that she spoke about openly and publicly herself in her memoir.”
“Producer or director, no matter how certain you are that an actor or that a crew member is in a bad situation, you don’t have the proof or the benefit of the time to verify it. You can adjust the schedule, you can collect internal reports, and you can assign a handler to make sure that the individual is being taken care of as a best as they can.”
Furst then mentioned the intervention that never came to be.
Griff Furst Says ‘Hollywood Has a Sad History’
He then said journalists have been calling him wanting to find about “the man Hayden brought with her.” He revealed, “All I know about that is what we observed and wrote down at the time that it happened, with her boyfriend Brian Hickerson.”
Furst then referenced the domestic violence incident that occurred when Hickerson was arrested for physically attacking Hayden 5 years ago. “I can also say that what’s true is what’s public record. You can look it up yourself. Cause in 2021, he pleaded no contest to felony counts of injuring a spouse, which was Hayden. And there’s other counts that were dismissed.” He also pointed out that three days before Hayden died, a judge denied Hickerson’s motion to have his felony counts reduced.” He added that Hayden’s mom, Lesley, had said she’d been trying to get Hickerson “out of Hayden’s life” for a long time.
“The coroner has not ruled a cause or a manner of death. The police have said their investigation showed no indication of foul play, and no one is accused that man of anything in connection to her death.”
Although he admits he was not present and does not know what happened, Furst said he wants to share his opinion that Hayden was “somebody fighting to stay sober, that deserved better company around them.”
He finished by saying, “Hollywood has an extremely sad history of stars not getting the help that they deserve” before saying he was linking a mental health help line.
