Gayle King rips into Hayden Panettiere’s estranged mom’s ‘unseemly’ response to tragic death

Gayle King issued a scathing response to Hayden Panettiere’s estranged mom Lesley Vogel’s statement on the late actress’ tragic death.

The “CBS Mornings” co-host read Vogel’s words — which referred to Panettiere as an “amazing” and “talented” woman “on the wrong path” — during Wednesday’s show.

“You know, guys, you read this and all I can think is, ‘Thanks, Mom, for nothing,'” King, 71, quipped.

“It makes me so sad of the opportunity that you have after your daughter’s death that that’s what you choose to leave us with,” she continued.

The journalist recalled speaking to Panettiere, who died Sunday at age 36, in May about her “complicated relationship with her mom” being a “work in progress.”

King noted that, despite the “Nashville” alum’s passing, the strained dynamic is “still very much in progress.”

She railed against Vogel for not “follow[ing] the lead” of the Golden Globe nominee’s dad, Skip Panettiere, who released a heartfelt statement about the “incredible light and a force of nature” over the weekend.

King’s colleague Kelly O’Grady agreed that Vogel should have “stopped at ‘she’s amazing and she’s talented.’”

Vladimir Duthiers agreed, pointing out that Hayden, who “cannot respond now,” spent “years publicly acknowledging her own failures, her own struggles.”

He added, “For her mother to use these days after Hayden’s death to just remind the world just how much trauma she caused, it’s unseemly. You would hope a mother’s instinct is just mourn your daughter.”

Vogel’s statement, notably, also took aim at Hayden’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, who was with her — along with brother Zach Hickerson — when she died.

She called Brian a “person in [Hayden’s] life that [her family has] been trying to get rid of for quite some time.”

Hayden and Brian got together in 2018 and had a tumultuous romance, with the latter going to jail in 2021 for felony domestic violence — and, we hear, continuing to “work his way back into Hayden’s life as ‘a friend.'”

The “Heroes” alum wrote about the relationship in her May “This Is Me: A Reckoning” memoir, as well as her issues with her mom.

Vogel, 70, slammed her “entitled” daughter’s tell-all at the time, telling Page Six, “After 20 years of trauma, I took the advice of professionals and chose the no-contact route. As many parents of entertainment children [know], we are all too familiar with the painful observation of watching the self-destructive paths they sometimes choose.”

Hayden did not respond to her mother directly but confirmed to Us Weekly, “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.”

Her death comes three years after her brother Jansen Panettiere’s passing at 28 due to an undiagnosed heart condition.

While Hayden’s cause of death is not yet known, she suffered an apparent overdose.

If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or text START to 88788.

If you or someone you care about is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).