Key Takeaways
- Ruby Rose shared and then deleted private texts in which Hayden Panettiere described “sobbing” over the cruelty of her estranged mother, Lesley Vogel, and said she still felt like “a child” looking for a safe place to hide at 36.
- The messages show Rose trying to separate the idea of motherhood from their mothers’ behavior, echoing Panettiere’s public claims that Vogel blurred the lines as her longtime manager, while Vogel has dismissed the drama as a bid to sell the memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning and cited her own “20 years of trauma.”
- Panettiere, who was found unresponsive and died on Aug. 16 in Greenville, South Carolina, had no trauma or signs of foul play in her autopsy, and investigators—now working with the DEA—have not yet determined her official cause or manner of death.
Ruby Rose is letting Hayden Panettiere speak for herself. In a now-deleted post on Threads, Rose shared private text messages in which the late actress said she was “sobbing” over the alleged cruelty of her estranged mother, Lesley Vogel, and felt like “a child” searching for somewhere safe to hide.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the exchange captures Rose trying to help Panettiere separate the emotional power of motherhood from the behavior she said they had both experienced. “It’s an unnatural position to be placed in,” Rose wrote. “Because they did not act or behave like mothers. So we are wounded from them but the idea of a mother is still so powerful to us.” Panettiere responded, “All of that lands.”
Panettiere then revealed how deeply Vogel could still affect her at 36. “I was sobbing over her cruelty yesterday thinking, my god I’m 36 and she can still cause this kind of pain,” she wrote. “I’m her only child left and this is how she wants to handle the situation?!”
Rose posted the screenshots as Vogel continued making public comments following her daughter’s death, building on Rose’s earlier warning that the estranged mother’s account should not be accepted without scrutiny.
The texts also cut through the competing narratives surrounding Panettiere’s memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning. And that description matches what Panettiere said publicly before her death. She told Jay Shetty that Vogel had managed her career since childhood, complicating their ability to function strictly as mother and daughter.
At 19, Panettiere recalled telling her, “I don’t want us to work together anymore; I just want you to be my mom.” According to Panettiere, Vogel answered, “You owe me.”
Panettiere died on August 16 after being found unresponsive inside a Greenville, South Carolina, residence. She was 36.
An autopsy found no trauma that contributed to her death, police reported no signs of foul play, and her cause and manner of death remain pending. The DEA is assisting Greenville investigators, though authorities have not said what role the agency is playing.
