Hollywood actress Hayden Panettiere has revealed that as a child, she equated praise with love. The 36-year-old star, who first gained fame as a child, had her mother, former actor Lesley Vogel, manage her professional and financial affairs early in her career. However, Panettiere shared that their relationship became unhealthy, with her conflating praise for love.
In an interview with The Independent, Panettiere explained, 'Getting that kind of praise so young made me feel empowered and happy. But it was also all wrapped up in pleasing my mom. Her opinions were the most important to me. I associated praise with love. So being praised felt like being loved.'
Memoir Reveals Central Role of Mother-Daughter Relationship
Hayden opens up about her relationship with her mother in her new memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, and insists it is a central part of her career in Hollywood. The blonde beauty, who has a nine-year-old daughter, Kaya, with ex-partner Wladimir Klitschko, said, 'She's a very complex person. And I get a lot of that from her, genetically. I don't want to offend anybody, or drag anybody, or hurt anyone's feelings. But I knew that if I wasn't honest about my relationship with her, I wouldn't be being honest at all. She's a huge part of the person I am today.'
Mother Prioritized Career Over Personal Well-Being
According to Female First UK, Panettiere believes her mother was more interested in her career than her personal well-being. The actress stated, 'Having a normal relationship (with me) wasn't something that interested her. And it was also maybe something she wasn't even capable of.'
Hayden recently admitted that she viewed her mother as her 'boss' during her younger years. She began her full-time career in 1994, playing Sarah Roberts in the soap opera series One Life to Live, and recalled developing a business-like relationship with her mother.
