Hayden Panettiere recently spoke candidly about her strained relationship with her mother, Lesley Vogel, on a podcast. While revealing about her relationship, the actress said that “everything was business” for her mom and nothing else. She even explained that she played every role to her mother, “but her child.”
Hayden Panettiere opens up about relationship with mom: ‘Everything but her child’
Hayden Panettiere got candid about her tumultuous relationship with her mom, Lesley Vogel, on the latest episode of Jay Shetty’s podcast, “On Purpose.” While speaking about their dynamics, the “Nashville” alum revealed that she started working since she was 8 months old and as she grew older, somewhere the difference between her mom and momager was no longer there. For her, Vogel was her “boss” rather than her parent.
“Everything was business,” Panettiere revealed about her mom, who was also an actress. “I became the confidant and the assistant and the therapist and the shoulder to cry on and everything but her child.” However, after years of working with her momager, Panettiere mustered the courage and decided to cut professional ties with Vogel, in the hope that she could finally have her mom.
Panettiere shared that she ended her business relationship with her momager when she was 19. She was starring in NBC’s hit drama “Heroes” at the time. “I said to her, ‘I don’t want us to work together anymore. I just want you to be my mom,’” Panettiere recalled, saying that her mom’s reply left her stunned. “I remember being hopeful. But I also wasn’t expecting the reaction that I got, which was, ‘You owe me.’ And that’s all she said. And she walked out.”
Although the duo parted professionally, Panettiere confessed she remained confused by what her mom “meant” by those words and even questioned “what form of payment” her mom expected from her. “It was disappointing to find out that it was money,” Panettiere clarified. “The fact that she didn’t care to have a relationship with me was a tough pill to swallow,” she added.
