Director Griff Furst has shared disturbing new details about what he says he witnessed while working with Hayden Panettiere on A Breed Apart, focusing in particular on the behavior of her on-off boyfriend, Brian Hickerson. According to Furst, an interaction with Hickerson during production immediately raised concerns about the dynamic between the couple. The filmmaker recalled that while he was directing one of Panettiere’s scenes and watching a camera rehearsal from the monitor, Hickerson approached him from behind. Furst alleged that Hickerson leaned toward him and said, “You let me know what you need her to do — I can get her to do anything.” The remark stunned the director, who said his immediate internal reaction was disbelief, even though he simply acknowledged Hickerson in the moment because filming was underway.

Looking back, Furst described the alleged comment as much more troubling than an awkward interruption on set. In his view, it appeared to be a display of control, delivered almost as though Hickerson wanted the director to understand that he had unusual influence over Panettiere. Furst characterized the exchange as a “bizarre power flex” and said members of the production could recognize warning signs around the actress. However, he emphasized the difficulty of intervening in another person’s private life, particularly when a film crew does not have complete knowledge of what is happening away from the set. Furst said that recognizing a potentially unhealthy situation and actually being able to remove someone from it are very different things. He also stressed that he was not claiming Hickerson wanted tragedy to occur, but said the relationship dynamic he personally observed appeared destructive.

Furst’s account has drawn particular attention because of Hickerson and Panettiere’s turbulent history. The pair began their relationship in 2018, during a period when Panettiere was struggling with alcohol and opioid addiction following her separation from former partner Wladimir Klitschko. Hickerson later faced domestic violence charges connected to Panettiere and served time in custody in 2021 after pleading no contest to charges stemming from incidents involving her. Panettiere herself had publicly discussed the damaging relationship and her battle with addiction, including in her memoir. Against that background, Furst said he did not believe Hickerson was the kind of person who should have been exerting significant influence over the life of someone who was already vulnerable. His comments were based, he repeatedly emphasized, on what he personally witnessed while working with Panettiere rather than on assumptions about events he did not see.

The director also recalled that concerns existed from the moment Panettiere arrived to work on A Breed Apart. According to Furst, members of the movie’s security team who collected her from the airport told him that something appeared to be wrong. When he later went to greet Panettiere and Hickerson, he found the actress warm, gracious and enthusiastic about the project, but he felt she was clearly struggling. Furst declined to publicly describe all the details behind that impression, saying only that after working on more than 100 films, he had enough experience to recognize when someone was not doing well. He remembered the atmosphere surrounding Panettiere and Hickerson as unusually dark. Despite those concerns, Panettiere continued working, and Furst said she was trying to remain sober while making the film.

Furst later revealed that concerns about Panettiere extended beyond what happened during filming. He claimed that after production ended, he remained in communication with members of her team and was eventually asked whether he would participate in an intervention intended to help her. Furst agreed, but according to him, the planned intervention never took place, at least not with his involvement. He explained that it would not have been appropriate for him to organize such an effort himself because his relationship with Panettiere was primarily professional. While making the movie, he said the production could take practical measures such as adjusting schedules, documenting concerns and assigning someone to look after an individual on set, but filmmakers have limited authority over an actor’s personal life once the cameras stop rolling.

Furst said Panettiere’s situation reminded him painfully of another actress he had worked with, Brittany Murphy. He directed Murphy in the 2009 film Tribute, shortly before her death at the age of 32. Furst remembered Murphy as an exceptionally gifted performer who, in his view, had entered a dark period alongside her husband, Simon Monjack, who died several months after her. He said years of working in the film industry had exposed him to many people struggling with substance abuse and convinced him that the company surrounding a vulnerable person can sometimes intensify an already dangerous downward spiral. He was careful not to claim that the two women’s circumstances were identical, but said he recognized what he considered disturbing similarities: talented women facing serious personal struggles while surrounded by relationships or influences that appeared unhealthy.

Other people who worked with Panettiere also spoke about signs that she was struggling. Justin Chatwin, her co-star in Sleepwalker, recalled that although Panettiere remained kind and professional, she seemed noticeably different from the young woman he had met during the height of her Heroes fame. Chatwin, who has spoken about his own long-term sobriety, said Panettiere opened up to him about addiction and aspects of her personal life. He described her as authentic when she stopped performing the public-facing role expected of an actress and suggested that beneath her professionalism was profound loneliness. His recollections echoed Furst’s broader point that someone can appear functional, friendly and capable at work while privately dealing with addiction, emotional isolation and difficult relationships.

Furst ultimately framed his disclosures not as an attempt to establish responsibility for Panettiere’s death, but as a warning about patterns that can surround vulnerable people. Panettiere had previously spoken candidly about her long struggle with alcohol and opioids, including a severe health crisis that led to rehabilitation. She had also made major personal sacrifices while seeking recovery, including allowing her daughter Kaya to live primarily with her father, Klitschko. Furst said he had been rooting for Panettiere to overcome those struggles and believed she deserved stronger, healthier support around her. His most chilling memory remains Hickerson’s alleged statement that he could get Panettiere “to do anything,” because Furst interpreted it as evidence of an unhealthy level of control. At the same time, he acknowledged that he was not present for Panettiere’s final days and could not claim to know everything that happened privately. His account instead focuses on what he says he directly witnessed: a talented woman fighting to stay sober, a relationship dynamic that deeply concerned him, and warning signs that, in retrospect, he believes should encourage people to take possible patterns of control and manipulation seriously.