Hayden Panettiere's ex says the most difficult part of her new memoir is the one everyone should read. Brian Hickerson, who dated the Nashville and Heroes star on and off from 2018 to 2022 and has multiple domestic violence arrests tied to the relationship, tells TMZ that the chapter detailing their time together is "important," especially for abusers. Panettiere's book, This Is Me: A Reckoning, recounts what she has describes as a "traumatic" relationship; Hickerson served 45 days in jail, received four years' probation, and was ordered to stay away from her for five years, per Entertainment Weekly.
Hickerson, who says he's still in touch with actor, did object to one incident Panettiere includes, recalling that his alleged drunken threat to throw a phone at her was something people do "all the time." Still, he says the memoir provides the kind of domestic violence education he wishes he had received at a young age. If he had, "maybe I wouldn't have done what I did," he says. Hickerson is now in an Alcoholics Anonymous group led by actor Shia LaBeouf, whom he credits with helping him out of a "dark place."
In another chapter of the memoir, Panettiere details a traumatic experience with a famous male actor at age 18. She writes that she was on a boat when a person she trusted led her to a room and put her in bed with the man, who was naked, per Variety. "By the time I realized I was in danger, I was quite literally out to sea," Panettiere said on Monday's episode of "On Purpose with Jay Shetty." "My hair stood on end and I became ferocious. I was like, 'This is not happening.'" The book is out May 19.
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