In her new memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, actress Hayden Panettiere opens up about a series of unsettling encounters she experienced earlier in her career. She writes candidly about several moments involving powerful figures in the entertainment industry, including one she says involved an unnamed Oscar winning actor. The book also explores how those experiences shaped her sense of safety and self awareness as a young woman navigating Hollywood.
The Private Apartment Party
According to her memoir, Panettiere recalls attending a gathering at a private apartment with a friend. After making small talk with a group of men, she grew uneasy and decided to leave. She writes that as she reached for her coat, a man she describes only as a well respected, Oscar winning actor and director stopped her, claiming something was stuck to his pants and asking her to look down. When she did, she says she was confronted with an act of indecent exposure that left her stunned. Panettiere never names the man in the book, choosing instead to describe the moment through her own shock at what had just happened in a crowded room full of people.