Emerson Phillips
Hayden Panettiere is reprising her role as Kirby Reed in the upcoming Scream 6.
She starred in 2011’s Scream 4, but the 32-year-old actress has recently been beset by various legal and relationship troubles.
For the most part, Panettiere has stayed out of the limelight the last few years amid ongoing issues with boyfriend Brian Hickerson – the couple started dating in 2018.
But they recently got into an on-camera fight with strangers in March after having drinks at the Sunset Marquis hotel in West Hollywood, California.
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According to Us Weekly, Panettiere and Hickerson are still together.
“She swears that Brian has changed for the better since being in jail, and anger management classes have taught him to control his temper,” an insider told Us Weekly at the time.
The couple got into a previous physical altercation in Los Angeles in May 2019 that led to Hickerson being arrested on felony domestic violence charges. He was ordered to stay 100 yards from Panettiere at the time and was not allowed to own firearms.
But the case was dismissed in October of that year. Hickerson was arrested again and charged with domestic battery – on Valentine’s Day 2020. Police in Wyoming responded to a disturbance complaint at a private residence in Jackson after a caller claimed an intoxicated male was locked out of the home because he punched his girlfriend in the face. According to cops, Hickerson allegedly punched Panettiere “with a closed fist on the right side of her face,” TMZ reported.
Hickerson claimed the former Nashville star, 30, remained inside the house “saying he beat the f–k out of me.”
The fifth Scream film was released in January 2022.
Scream 6 is set to begin principal photography later this summer and is slated for worldwide release on March 31, 2023. The sixth installment of the famed horror franchise will mark the actress’s first big-screen role since she ended a six-season run on the musical series Nashville in 2018.
