Hayden Panettiere is reflecting on her May-December romance with her Heroes castmate Milo Ventimiglia, which ended in 2009 after 14 months. The 36-year-old Nashville alum was said to have started dating the 48-year-old This Is Us alum in December 2007 when he was 30 and she was 18, but the pair were cast as Claire Bennet and Peter Petrelli in the NBC superhero drama as far back as early 2006.
'I saw him as my partner and that it was going to hopefully keep going and evolving and lead to marriage,' Panettiere said in her Us Weekly cover story on Wednesday. 'But it was a point of contention that I was unable to put the "I" in front of "love you" and at the time, I didn't realize or understand why it made me feel so uncomfortable. I could only say "love you" in a casual way. Being older, he was much more aware of what that meant. And that said a lot.'
A week before their split, Ventimiglia attempted to break up with the newly out bisexual beauty but her 'visceral' reaction frightened him so much he 'immediately took it back.' 'One hundred percent it was only because I was over the toilet, hysterically crying,' Panettiere recalled. 'It was like my world had crumbled. It was so out of left field, nothing that big or explosive had happened. Nothing had really gone wrong. Nobody cheated. I remember the look on his face being pure shock.'
The two-time Golden Globe nominee confesses about all of her past romances in her 320-page memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning, which Grand Central Publishing will release on May 19. Panettiere most recently split from convicted felon Brian Hickerson in 2020 following his eight domestic violence arrests.
The Grammy-nominated narrator lost custody of her 11-year-old daughter Kaya Evdokia Klitschko with ex-fiancé, retired heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko, whom she amicably split from in 2018 after their nine-year on/off relationship. 'It was a living nightmare, and I felt so out of control. There's nothing that I could do about it,' Panettiere said of losing custody. 'There's so much of me that wanted to fight, but I had to ultimately take into consideration the most important thing, which was how this was all going to affect my daughter. Sometimes that means having to do the hardest things in the world, for their sake. Wlad is an incredible father, and I know he was doing what he felt was best for our daughter.'
The Equal Means Equal activist added: 'I have an incredible relationship with both of them. I'm so grateful for Wlad. We're very close, and have had a deep friendship.' Panettiere also previously dated retired NFL wide receiver Scotty McKnight, Welsh TV presenter Steve Jones, singer Jesse McCartney, The Hills alum Stephen Colletti, and the late Pink Taco founder Harry Morton.
The homeschooled millennial is scheduled to kick off her four-date This Is Me book tour at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square in her native New York City on May 19. Panettiere's tell-all was previously titled Break Free: Addiction, Trauma, and How the Cheerleader Saved Herself. The Breed Apart actress also wrote about her 'addiction and recovery' after completing three rehab stints for dependence on opioids and alcohol.
'I was truly scared. I had pushed my body to a point where my eyes turned yellow, I was struggling with jaundice, and [not having the] courage to exit my house,' Panettiere recalled. 'I went to the doctor and had a blood test and he, in no uncertain terms, told me that if you do not put a stop to this right now, then your body's not going to be able to recover. I started doing research about liver transplants and read [that] even if you get [one], that could only buy you five years of life. And so I was like, This is very, very serious, and this has gotten completely out of hand.'
UK/Australian audiences can catch the 5ft blonde's latest performance as grieving mother Sarah Pangborn in Brandon Auman's dismally-reviewed psychological thriller, Sleepwalker, when it hits theaters this July. Panettiere also served as executive producer on the project.
