Hayden Panettiere’s loved ones were reportedly worried that Brian Hickerson had become a barrier between the actress and her support system before her sudden death.
Friends were allegedly unaware that Panettiere, 36, had reunited with her former boyfriend before she died Sunday, Aug. 16, in South Carolina, a source told Page Six.
“If Brian was back in her life, then it was something she was hiding because she wasn’t speaking about it with many of her friends,” the source said.
Those concerns reportedly went beyond the couple’s reunion.
“Hayden’s friends felt like Brian had isolated her from them over the years,” another source claimed. “They were really worried about her and felt like she had become more and more cut off from the people who cared about her.”
Panettiere and Hickerson were reportedly photographed at LAX on Saturday, Aug. 15, before boarding a flight to Greenville, S.C. The former couple had also been seen together at the airport in March, sparking speculation that they had reconciled.
“They always hoped she would eventually leave him for good and reconnect with the people who loved and supported her,” the source said. “It was really hard for them to watch.”
Hickerson has not publicly addressed Panettiere’s death.
Her father, Alan Panettiere, later remembered her as “an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy” to those who knew her.