Gayle King did not hold back in her response to Hayden Panettiere’s mother, after the former momager remembered her late daughter as an “amazingly talented person” who had “sadly lost her way.”
Lesley Vogel, speaking publicly for the first time since Panettiere’s sudden death, shared her sorrow while also saying she wished her daughter had remained “true to herself” and had not drifted from the course she once seemed to be on.
Their relationship had long been complicated. Panettiere had spoken openly about the distance between them, revealing just three months before her death that she and her mother were no longer in contact.
That history appeared to weigh heavily on King and her co-hosts as she read part of Vogel’s statement during Wednesday’s episode of CBS Mornings.
“You know, guys, you read this and all I can think is, ‘Thanks, Mom, for nothing,’” King said, making clear her frustration with the tone of the remarks.
Gayle King criticized Hayden Panettiere’s mother after she described her late daughter as an “amazingly talented person” who had “sadly lost her way”; Panettiere is pictured with her mother in 2007
“Thanks, Mom, for nothing,” Gayle King said in reaction to part of Lesley Vogel’s statement
King’s colleague Vladimir Duthiers echoed her discomfort, saying: “I mean, Hayden Panettiere spent years publicly acknowledging her own failures, her own struggles. She did it with you in that interview.”
‘She cannot respond now, and for her mother to use these days after Hayden’s death to just remind the world how much trauma she caused, it’s unseemly,’ he continued.
Panettiere, 36, died Sunday at an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, after being found unresponsive by emergency responders following a suspected overdose that resulted in cardiac arrest.
On Wednesday, King recalled the Heroes star’s candidness about her strained relationship with her mother.
‘When she was here, Vlad, she told us it was a very complicated relationship with her mom and that it was still a work in progress,’ King said.
‘And you hear stuff like that and you realize it was still very much in progress. It makes me so sad that of the opportunity that you have after your daughter’s death, that that’s what you choose to leave us with.’
Kelly O’Grady agreed Vogel could have left out more in the statement.
‘If she had just stopped at, “she was amazing and talented.” We would all agree,’ she said.
The Daily Mail has contacted Vogel for comment but has not yet heard back.
King was disappointed by Vogel’s statement, telling viewers, ‘That’s what you choose to leave us with’
The two have had a contentious relationship complicated by Hayden’s success in Hollywood
Vogel broke her silence on her daughter’s shock death with NBC News.
‘I think Hayden was an amazingly talented person in so many departments and I think young people who grow up in the entertainment industry’ she said, ‘it is a struggle and it’s a very challenging industry and it’s not unusual for them to sadly find the wrong path.
‘I think it becomes very difficult to be true to yourself, and I think Hayden sadly lost her way, and I wish it were different. I wish she had stayed true to herself because she had many incredible attributes.’
Vogel also said she last spoke to her daughter in October, and said they had been ‘texting a bit since then, but not in some time.’
‘No-contact was a choice I made for very specific reasons and, you know, certainly not for lack of care, concern, love’ Vogel added.
Panettiere and Vogel have had a complicated relationship that the star has been open about.
In her first statement since the death of Hayden, Lesley said, ‘I think Hayden sadly lost her way, and I wish it were different. I wish she had stayed true to herself because she had many incredible attributes’
The Heroes star previously said she got ‘brutally honest’ in her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning about her mother pushing her too hard and doubling as her manager.
‘I was so scared of her that approaching her and being honest about my feelings [back then] was not going to get me any positive reaction. This is my way of doing it,’ she told Us Weekly in May.
She also said they had ‘no relationship’ at the moment – but said the door was ‘open’ for reconciliation.
‘Unfortunately, we don’t have a relationship right now. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t leave the door open for the opportunity to present itself one day. It’s hard for me to say, but I’ve chosen to be brutally honest. ‘
Hollywood has been mourning the loss of Panettiere, who died on Sunday at the age of 36.
The star began acting as a child, appearing in soap operas, then gained wider recognition for her role in the 2000 sports drama Remember the Titans with Denzel Washington, and as the voice of Dot in Pixar’s 1998 film A Bug’s Life.
Panettiere later found fame playing cheerleader Claire Bennet in the superhero drama Heroes before starring as country singer Juliette Barnes for six seasons on Nashville.
The multi-talented actress grew up on camera and has had roles in hit shows Nashville, Heroes, and more
She earned two Golden Globe nominations for best supporting actress on the show, while her singing produced 11 entries on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.
Panettiere’s film credits include 2006’s Bring It On: All or Nothing, the comedy-drama film Raising Helen, and appearances in Scream 4 and Scream VI as Kirby Reed.
She had an 11-year-old daughter called Kaya following a life-threatening birth, but later gave full custody to her former fiancé, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.
Panettiere’s passing was announced Sunday by her father Skip Panettiere, who said in a statement: ‘It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden.
‘She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her – and to the millions who watched her onscreen. We ask for privacy as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.’
Authorities in Greenville, South Carolina subsequently said that officials responded to an apartment in the area after receiving a report of an ‘unresponsive female’ via a possible ‘drug overdose,’ subsequently determined to be Panettiere.
Officials, who attempted lifesaving measures prior to declaring the actress deceased, said that no signs of trauma or foul play were evident in their probe into the Panettiere’s death, which remains ongoing.
