“There Was No Swimming Away”: Hayden Panettiere Opens Up About a Terrifying Hollywood Encounter

Save Hayden Penattiere. Save the world. I thought we were all clear on this. On this week’s episode of On Purpose with Jay Shetty, former Heroes star Hayden Penattiere opened up about a frightening incident with a “very famous” undressed actor that took place when she was just 18-years-old. (Jail! Jail for all of them!) The revelations come as part of Penattiere’s press tour for her new book This is Me: A Reckoning, which is set to come out next week. The gist? Hollywood is full of disgusting men. I feel like I’ve heard this song before.  

Penatierre’s story goes like this: at the age of just 18 she was brought onto a boat by someone she “had grown to trust and see as a protector and somebody who had my back.” The actress says once on the boat, she was led downstairs to a “very small room” and placed in bed next to “this undressed man who was very famous.” According to Panettiere, the man’s demeanor gave her the impression that having a frightened teenager brought to his bed in the middle of the sea where she can’t escape was “just an average day to him.” 

Once again I must say…jail! Jail for all of them! 

According to Panettiere, it wasn’t just the frightening sexual advance by an older “very famous” man that left her reeling—it was how quickly the vibe of the evening had changed. “There were no hints of anything like that happening,” She told Shetty. “So it took me by surprise.” Though Panettiere doesn’t get into specifics about how she avoided the encounter going further, she does say that she was able to flee the situation and hide elsewhere on the boat, “That lion in me, that fire in me…my hair stood on end and I became ferocious. I was like, ‘This is not happening.” 

Of course, once you’re on a boat with a predator and someone you thought was a friend who turns out to be a predator-accomplice, you’re kind of stuck. “There was no jumping off and swimming away,” She said. “And there was nobody who was going to be empathetic to my situation. I realized that this was nothing new to them.” 

Wow! What a genuinely harrowing story from a young actress who has publicly struggled with a lot of psychological demons since that time. I wonder if these two things could be related? 

“When you really find somebody that you trust, you hold on to the for dear life and you feel so lucky,” She said. “So to be betrayed like that is just an awful feeling.” Hayden…honey…totally understand why you might not want to but if you ever do decide to name names, we’re listening. (And waiting with pitchforks.)

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