Hayden Panettiere recounts disturbing yacht incident in new memoir
She says a trusted friend urged her to get into bed with the unnamed man
Hayden Panettiere is sharing further details in her new memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning, about a troubling incident she says occurred when she was 18, involving a yacht trip in the South of France and a “famous thirtysomething British singer-songwriter.”
The expanded account appears in a chapter titled “Trust,” published in her newly released book on May 19, where Panettiere describes what began as a glamorous celebrity-filled yacht experience that later took a deeply unsettling turn.
According to Panettiere, she was traveling on what she described as a “super yacht” filled with parties, celebrities, and nonstop champagne, accompanied by a woman she considered a close and trusted friend.
She recalls days of swimming in the Mediterranean, attending late-night gatherings, and socializing with high-profile guests before the situation shifted unexpectedly.
Toward the end of the trip, Panettiere says her friend asked her to come downstairs after dinner to meet someone.
She writes that she was led through a narrow hallway into a private cabin where she encountered a shirtless man in bed, whom she describes only as a “famous thirtysomething British singer-songwriter.”
In her memoir, Panettiere recalls thinking, “Is he naked under there?” before her friend allegedly told her, “I want you to get in bed with him,” and then left the room.
Panettiere writes that she initially complied out of shock but quickly dissociated from the moment, later describing a sense that her body no longer felt like her own.
She attributes part of her response to what she describes as years of being “managed” in the entertainment industry at a young age, which she says conditioned her to trust adults and suppress her instincts.
“As soon as the door clicked close, my survival instinct kicked in,” she writes, adding that she told the man, “This is not going to happen,” before leaving the room and fleeing back to her cabin.
She says she immediately booked a hotel, packed her belongings, and left the yacht, later describing the experience as deeply violating and a moment of betrayal by someone she trusted.
Panettiere first discussed the incident publicly in broader terms during an appearance on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast earlier this month, where she reflected on how her perspective has changed with age.
“The fact that I was 18… scientifically, your frontal lobes don’t develop until we’re what, 25, 26?” she said.
“Even though I felt like I could make safe decisions, I wasn’t fully aware of what was going on around me.”
She added that there were no clear warning signs before the situation escalated. “There was no hints of anything like that happening,” she said, noting she felt blindsided when it unfolded.
In a later interview, Panettiere also explained her decision not to name certain individuals in the book, saying she wanted to avoid legal risks and protect herself from potential fallout involving people she could encounter again in the entertainment industry.
