Hayden Panettiere’s death shocked the world, and as the days go by, more information has come forward. One person speaking out publicly is Griff Furst, the director of her 2025 film A Breed Apart. He's been sharing on Instagram, and in a recent reel he claimed that her team asked him to participate in an intervention.
© GettyThe filmmaker had already spoken publicly about his experience on the set in an earlier video, and on Wednesday he shared new details about what happened after production wrapped and Panettiere’s sobriety.
According to Furst, as someone who grew up on movie sets, he always took into consideration Panettiere's work as a child actor. "I understand what it does to somebody to be put in front of a camera before they're old enough to consent," he said.
© Walt Disney Television Photo ArcHayden started acting when she was 11 months old, and she was very candid about her negative experiences. “I was rooting for Hayden to beat the addiction,” Furst said, referencing the struggles she had publicly discussed in her memoir, 'This Is Me: A Reckoning'.
He said when A Breed Apart wrapped, he stayed in touch with her team, and it was eventually "determined" that "she might need an intervention.” Furst claimed he was asked to participate. "And I said yes,” he said.
According to the director, however, the intervention never happened. “And that intervention did not happen, at least not that I'm aware of,” he said, adding that he was not leading the effort and that he did not believe it would have been "appropriate" for him to do so.
A day earlier, Furst discussed his first impressions of Panettiere when she arrived on the set of A Breed Apart. He said the film’s security team that picked her up from the airport alerted him that something "seemed off."
© MEGAHe said he then went to greet her at her room and found the actress with her boyfriend, Brian Hickerson. “Hayden was incredibly sweet and gracious and excited to work,” Furst said.
Furst wouldn't go into details, only saying that, based on his experience working on more than 100 movies, "it was pretty clear that she wasn't OK." "And the energy in her room was pretty dark," he continued.
He mentioned Brian again in his most recent video, bringing up his domestic violence conviction and her mom's recent statements about him. He described Panettiere as “somebody fighting to stay sober who deserved better company around them than what I observed.”
Brian had a complicated and violent history with Panettiere. He pleaded no contest in 2021 to felony charges involving injuries to Panettiere and served jail time, while a restraining order was also issued against him.
© Backgrid/The Grosby GroupHe made sure to never accuse Hickerson of causing Panettiere’s death, and expressed frustration about the entertainment industry’s ability to help people struggling behind the scenes. “Hollywood has an extremely sad history of stars not getting the help that they deserve,” he said. “And our business has no fix for that.”
The director said that observations about an actor’s well-being can end up becoming nothing more than production paperwork. “Our observations, they just get written down and thrown into a production report,” Furst said. “And then a year later, you're just reading the news.” According to Furst, they had even talked about doing another movie together recently.
© Getty ImagesPanettiere was found unresponsive at a residence in Greenville, South Carolina, on Aug. 16 and was pronounced dead after emergency responders attempted to revive her. Authorities have said there were no signs of foul play, while an autopsy found no trauma that contributed to her death. Her official cause and manner of death remain undetermined while additional testing, including toxicology, is pending.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. You can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline for free, confidential support, safety planning, and resources by calling 800-799-SAFE (7233), texting START to 88788, or visiting their website.
