Hayden Panettiere Opens Up About Her Relationship With Milo Ventimiglia in New Memoir

Hayden Panettiere is pulling back the curtain on her past relationship with Milo Ventimiglia in her newly released memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning.

The 36-year-old Nashville star has opened up about the genesis of her romance with Ventimiglia, revealing details about how their connection unfolded while the two were working together on Heroes. Panettiere was 18 when the relationship began, while Ventimiglia was 30 at the time.

According to Panettiere's account, the couple's bond deepened during a press tour in Europe. "Maybe it was the sights or the food or the fact that everyone fell all over us, but I felt dizzy with joy, and it seemed so did Milo," she wrote. "Over the course of the world tour, our friendship turned to flirtation, and just like that, we became a thing."

The actress also addressed the scrutiny surrounding their age difference. "The press scrutiny around our age difference had been relentless, and Milo was such a private person that I knew it wore on him," Panettiere shared in the memoir.

Despite the external pressures, Panettiere felt their relationship was fundamentally sound. She noted that "there wasn't much wrong with our dynamic" in her perspective at the time.

The relationship came to a head following an incident at an NBC party. An executive at the network kissed Panettiere, which prompted Ventimiglia to want to confront the individual. However, Panettiere was opposed to him doing so. About a week after this disagreement, Ventimiglia ended the relationship, though he reversed course when he witnessed how upset Panettiere became.

Reflecting on the split, Panettiere wrote: "I wasn't really in love with Milo, but our relationship was something stable in my life, and now he'd pulled the rug out from under me. In my nineteen years, no one had ever broken up with me—especially not after a silly misunderstanding like this (or whatever had happened the other day)."

The pair ultimately parted ways for good, though Panettiere emphasized that their professional dynamic on Heroes remained amicable following the breakup. She also referenced a "point of contention" that existed during their time together, though she did not elaborate further in the available excerpts from her memoir.