Hayden Panettiere reveals ‘shocking’ incident with undressed famous man on boat

'This was just, you know, an average day for him, and this is something that happens all the time.'

Published May 12, 2026  •  Last updated 12 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

Hayden Panettiere arrives at Declare Yourself's "Last Call" party at the Green Door in Los Angeles, Sept. 24, 2008. Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez / Files /Getty Images

Hayden Panettiere said she felt betrayed by a friend when she was 18 after a “shocking” incident on a boat that involved an undressed and very famous man.

The actress told podcaster Jay Shetty about the traumatizing experience in an interview shared online Monday.

Article content

Article content

Panettiere said the friend once took her on a boat where she was led to a room with the naked celebrity and was expected to perform sexual acts.

“Even though I felt like I could make healthy decisions, safe decisions, I wasn’t capable of being fully aware of what was going on around me,” Panettiere said about her young age.

Article content

It wasn’t until she found herself in those types of predicaments that her views about the real world shifted.

“But by the time I’d realized I was in danger, I was quite literally out to sea,” she said. “That moment shook me and was shocking.”

What she says happened on the boat

The experience on the boat — which will also be included in her upcoming memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, in which she also reveals she’s bisexual — happened by someone she had “grown to trust” and seen as a “protector” who had her back, but did not name.

Panettiere said she was led to a small room where she was physically put in the same bed with the unidentified celebrity, who was relaxing with his hands behind his head.

“This was just, you know, an average day for him, and this is something that happens all the time,” she said.

According to Panettiere, she waited for her friend to leave before her gut instincts kicked in as she described the “lion” and “fire” in her as her “hair stood on end and I became ferocious.”

Article content

“‘This is not happening,'” she told herself. “But I had nowhere to hide. And I bolted and I hid wherever I could think of to hide on a boat.”

She said there was no option to jump off the boat and swim away, and that there was no person aboard who was going to be empathetic to her situation.

It was “disappointing when somebody lets you down like that,” she continued. “And I’d been let down so much before, and that when you really find somebody that you trust, like you hold on to them for dear life and you feel so lucky. So to be betrayed like that is just an awful feeling.”

Read More

1. 

   ‘I am bisexual’: Actress Hayden Panettiere comes out in new memoir
2. 

   ‘CONFIDENCE IS BACK’: Hayden Panettiere had breast reduction surgery

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

Article content