Hayden Panettiere's estranged mother Lesley Vogel is speaking out on the criticism over her reaction to her daughter's sudden death.

In an interview with Good Morning America on Monday (August 24), Vogel addressed the "haters" who had something to say about the way she responded to Panettiere's passing at 36 earlier this month. Shortly after Panettiere's death, Vogel reportedly described her daughter as "an amazingly talented person in so many departments" who went down "the wrong path" in the "challenging" entertainment industry and seemingly implied the actress's on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson was involved in her death, per Page Six.

"I would say to the haters out there, you don't have a right to tell me how I mourn the loss of my second child," she told GMA. "That's my domain."

The Heroes star's tragic death came more than three years after her younger brother Jansen Panettiere unexpectedly died in 2023 at 28 due to aortic valve complications and an undiagnosed enlarged heart, People reports. Reflecting on her daughter's recent passing, Vogel explained that her death still doesn't feel like reality.

"I was numb. I was just numb," she said. "I just couldn't feel anything. I still am not grasping this is real. It doesn't feel real. My mind tells me it's not all the time. It's gonna be a process."

Vogel added that she hopes her daughter is remembered for being "the talented, you know, beautiful, outgoing, intelligent woman she really was."

Panettiere died August 16 at 36 years old after she was found unresponsive at a residence in Greenville, South Carolina. According to People, officials were heard discussing discussing an "overdose" and "cardiac arrest" around the time workers responded to the scene. The Greenville County Coroner's Office later said that responders arrived to find a female in cardiac arrest, later identified as Panettiere, and despite resuscitation efforts, she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Following news of her death, tributes from friends and colleagues poured out on social media mourning the heartbreaking loss, including her ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko.

Joey Brooks

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