Hayden Panettiere's boyfriend Brian Hickerson allegedly sent threatening texts after 2020 arrest

Key Points:

• Brian Hickerson allegedly sent threatening texts to actress Hayden Panettiere following his February 2020 arrest for domestic battery, including messages about going "to war" and attempts to intimidate her into dropping the case.
• Hickerson pleaded no contest to felony charges related to injuring Panettiere and was sentenced to jail time, probation, domestic violence classes, and a restraining order, but his requests to reduce or expunge charges were denied.
• Panettiere and Hickerson had a volatile, on-again, off-again relationship beginning in 2018, and she was found unresponsive in a South Carolina apartment shortly before her death at age 36, with Narcan found at the scene suggesting an overdose.
• Panettiere’s estranged mother criticized Hickerson, stating he was present at her death and had been a negative influence in her life, while some of Panettiere’s friends were reportedly unaware she had reunited with Hickerson before she died.
• The actress had openly discussed the troubled relationship in her memoir, but appeared to keep her recent reconciliation with Hickerson private from many close friends.