The actress recalls a star-studded party that made her “deeply uneasy” the moment she arrived.

Hayden Panettiere says ‘well-respected’ Oscar winner exposed himself to her at 19: ‘I looked down and recoiled’

The actress recalls a star-studded party that made her "deeply uneasy" the moment she arrived.

By Kathleen Perricone

May 19, 2026 4:26 p.m. ET

Hayden Panettiere. Credit:

Jamie McCarthy/WireImage

- Hayden Panettiere recalls a star-studded party she attended at 19 when she was introduced to a group of men “all in their forties and fifties.”

- As she was leaving, a "well-respected" Oscar winner followed her and exposed himself to her.

- “I looked down and recoiled,” Panettiere writes in her new memoir, *This Is Me: A Reckoning*, out now.

The shocking revelations keep coming from Hayden Panettiere’s memoir, *This Is Me: A Reckoning*.

After sharing disturbing stories about her teenage years in Hollywood, like being given “happy pills” on a red carpet and being encouraged by a friend to hop into bed with an “undressed” famous singer, the actress also says an Academy Award winner once exposed himself to her.

When she was 19, the *Heroes* star attended an intimate, yet star-studded gathering at a friend’s Los Angeles apartment that felt more like “a meeting” than an actual party.

'This Is Me: A Reckoning' by Hayden Panettiere.

Grand Central Publishing

Within minutes of being introduced to a group of men “all in their forties and fifties,” she writes, Panettiere felt “deeply uneasy” as they made small talk about her career plans post-*Heroes*. “These men seemed to be a little too comfortable together, like they knew something I didn’t.”

The actress prepared her exit strategy, grabbing her coat and starting to say her goodbyes — when one of the male guests followed her.

Hayden Panettiere on 'Heroes' season 1.

Michael Muller/NBC/Getty

According to Panettiere, he warned her to be careful because someone had spit out their gum “and I got some on my pants.” Confused, she stepped back.

“There’s a big wad of gum on my pants,” he told the teen, pointing to himself.

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“I looked down and recoiled,” recalled Panettiere in her book. “This well-respected, award-winning actor’s testicles were hanging out from his unzipped fly.”

Without saying a word, she fled the apartment. Although he did not physically harm the teen actress, the incident left her mentally shaken.

“Up to that moment, men in Hollywood had always been kind and respectful around me,” wrote Panettiere. “There may have been a peck on the lips here and an inappropriate comment there, but nothing had crossed a line. The gum on the pants, however, was a head-scratcher. It hadn’t hurt me and I was sure it was a drunken joke, but I’d never seen a grown man do something like that. I was shocked.”

Hayden Panettiere in 2008.

Panettiere was at the party with a friend whom she calls “Stella" in the book. This is the same friend who left her alone with a “famous” singer-songwriter in his 30s on a yacht. “He was shirtless and propped up on a few pillows with his arms positioned behind his head,” wrote Panettiere. “From the waist down, he was covered by bedsheets, and I could see the outline of his body underneath.”

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“I want you to get into bed with him,” encouraged Stella. “He has a huge dick."

But once the door closed, Panettiere made a hasty exit — out of the room and off the boat altogether. “I felt like I’d been kicked in the face,” she wrote of Stella’s betrayal. “She’d confided in me, pampered me, and treated me like her best friend—then turned around and treated me like a call girl. I deserved better than that, by a lot.”

*This Is Me: A Reckoning* is out now.

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