Hayden Panettiere said she is bisexual as she promotes her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, and described the disclosure as “better late than never.” The 36-year-old said the decision to speak publicly about that part of herself comes years after she first struggled to find the right moment.
Panettiere said she had dated a woman and had been “much more into women even as a child than … men,” but added that she had not fallen in love with a woman. She said, “It was either I was too young, and I was being forced to be perfect at all times. I was not encouraged to just be myself,” and later worried that being open about liking girls would make it seem as if she was “jumping on the bandwagon.”
She said the disclosure was tied to the memoir because she did not think earlier in life was the right time to share it. Panettiere said, “It was scary, though, because there were paparazzi always waiting for me outside to follow me everywhere,” and added that she had explored her sexuality without fully opening herself emotionally because she did not want to have to hide a future relationship if she fell in love.
The memoir arrives at a moment when Panettiere is also speaking about another difficult part of her life: her strained relationship with her mother, Lesley Vogel. Panettiere said she and Vogel do not have a relationship right now, though she left open the possibility of rebuilding one someday. The book is set for release on May 19.
Vogel publicly questioned the timing of her daughter’s announcement on Friday, saying, “I do not believe it was being hidden, but there is no historic proof that this is the case,” and, “I do think the timing of this coming out is very interesting.” Panettiere, known for Heroes and Bring It On and a Golden Globe nominee, has now placed her sexuality, her family fracture and her own account of growing up in the same frame, leaving readers with a memoir that appears designed to tell the parts of her life she says she was not ready to say out loud before now.
