Hayden Panettiere and Brian Hickerson Had a Fiery Relationship With Some Major Red Flags

In the 1990s and 2000s, Hayden Panettiere was one of Hollywood's "It" girls. People followed her every move, and the ups and downs of her life as she navigated fame as a child and growing up in the spotlight, from her days in a soap opera to her front roles as a leading lady.

Some of those ups and downs came in the late 2010s in her relationship with Brian Hickerson.

Hickerson, a real estate agent and actor, was with Hayden for several years, and they made frequent headlines together. Unfortunately, they're not the headlines you generally want to make. Here's a look at their rocky relationship timeline.

Hayden and Hickerson were first linked in 2018, according to Us Weekly. They were spotted cozying up together in August 2018, but an inside source said they were dating months prior to that. They reportedly got serious very quickly, and Hayden met his family the following month.

However, it wasn't long before news broke that Hickerson was involved in a "domestic" incident with his own father. The outlet says Hayden was "intoxicated" during the incident and "frantic," while Hickerson denies assaulting his father.

In February 2019, Hayden was giving hints that she was planning on forever with Hickerson after saying in an interview that she could see herself marrying him.

However, in May 2019, Us reports, Hickerson was arrested after marks were found on Hayden's body. He was charged with felony domestic violence, but the two were seen together in public just weeks after his arrest.

In February 2020, Hickerson was arrested again for domestic violence involving Hayden. Hickerson allegedly struck Hayden "with a closed fist on the right side of her face," the outlet notes.

Hayden sought an order of protection against Hickerson, and on July 16, 2020, Hickerson was charged with eight counts of domestic violence and assault.

Allegedly, Hickerson threatened to release sensitive information about Hayden if she continued to pursue the case against him and a warrant for his arrest was issued.

In April 2021, Hickerson pleaded no contest to two felony counts in a Los Angeles court. Us reports that he "pleaded no contest to charges of domestic battery and intimidating a witness stemming from his two Wyoming cases in February 2020 and June 2020. He was sentenced to 360 days in jail for the intimidating a witness charge and 180 days for the domestic battery charge."

With credit for time served, he was given 33 days in jail.

Shortly after he was released from jail, Hayden and Hickerson were spotted line dancing together in a club in Los Angeles. At the time, however, Hayden claimed that they were just friends.

In 2022, Hayden was reportedly caught in the middle of trying to break up a fight between Hickerson and others, but was "unharmed" by the incident.

They appeared to be on-again, off-again, and friends worried about her behavior and road to sobriety as Hickerson seemed to be struggling in recovery from his own substance use issues.

These days, Hayden and Hickerson are no longer together. In May 2026, Hayden released a memoir detailing her life, and explained that he wasn't in her life anymore.

She shared, "Getting an abusive person out of your life is like trying to rip a weed out that is so entangled into your life, and every time you pull it out another weed pops back up and you're like, I thought I killed this" (via USA Today).

It's not entirely clear how or when their relationship ended, but it would seem that their split was better for both of them. Now, according to her memoir, Hayden looks back on what happened with more clarity.