Gayle King used part of Wednesday’s “CBS Mornings” broadcast to criticize Lesley Vogel, Hayden Panettiere’s estranged mother, over comments Vogel made to NBC News following the actress’s death at 36. King read Vogel’s remarks on air, then told her co-anchors the statement left her thinking, “Thanks, Mom, for nothing.”
Vogel, who managed Panettiere’s career from childhood until the actress fired her from that role at 19, told NBC News that young performers who grow up in the entertainment industry often struggle to stay true to themselves, and said she believed her daughter had “lost her way.” She also directed pointed remarks at Panettiere’s on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson, who was present when the actress died, describing him as someone the family had tried for some time to distance from Panettiere.
King said the statement stung particularly because of the opportunity it represented, and questioned why Vogel chose those words rather than a more compassionate tribute. Co-anchor Vladimir Duthiers went further, noting that Panettiere had spent years openly discussing her own struggles with addiction and mental health, including in a memoir published this spring, and argued that a parent revisiting that pain so soon after her death crossed a line. He said he’d hoped a mother’s first instinct would simply be grief.
King contrasted Vogel’s statement with one released by Panettiere’s father, Skip, who called his daughter “an incredible light and a force of nature” who brought joy to everyone who knew her. King suggested Vogel would have done better to follow his example.
King also reflected on her own history with Panettiere, recalling an interview she conducted with the actress in May tied to the release of her memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning.” King said Panettiere had seemed to be still struggling that day, and that the news of her death, days before what would have been her 37th birthday, hit hard as a result.
