Hayden Panettiere's Father Arrested For Spousal Abuse

LOS ANGELES — The father of "Heroes" star Hayden Panettiere was arrested early Monday on suspicion of hitting his wife, authorities said. Alan Panettiere was arrested by Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies in West Hollywood and detained on suspicion of spousal assault, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

He was later released after posting $50,000 bail.

Whitmore declined to name the woman that Panettiere is accused of hitting, but said she reported to deputies that he struck the woman three times with an open hand.

Whitmore said detectives would not release a mug shot of Panettiere.

Los Angeles court records do not indicate any prior charges for the 49-year-old father of Hayden Panettiere, who plays Claire Bennett on NBC's hit show, "Heroes."

Michelle Bega, Hayden Panettiere's publicist, said the arrest was a "private matter" and said the actress would have no comment.

Comments

[mamacat]

Very sad and unfortuneate. Best wishes to all involved. Sounds like it may be time for the parents to split up. This sort of thing is bad not only for the wife, but very bad for the adult kids. It may be better for them if they know that their Mother is safe and strong enough to get away from this.

(BTW - I know that I don't really know what is going on. Just speaking out based on what it looks like is happening.)

[Theda]

Apparently he told his wife she was "disrespecting him" before he hit her.
Wow....my ex-husband, who has borderline personality disorder, often said the same thing before he flew into uncontrollable rages.

[fluentinsilence]

No one cares about this guy; more of Hayden, less of the family.

[LiberalBuzz]

A good friend of mine's son is friends with Jansen and has mentioned several times what a temper his father has. He gets the impression that Jansen is afraid of his father...very much so.

Jansen has a flick coming out this month about a Mexican little league team in the 50's, that against all odds including poverty, outright racism and bigotry goes for the Little League championship and ....well ya gotta watch it.

It's called THE PERFECT GAME.

[haleywins]

Who?

More wasted space on Huffpo.

[marymansour]

Big yawn!

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

Who is this person? Let me guess - som reality show on MTV or Miley Cyrus' sidekick.............

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

I reread the story and see that she's the "star" of Heroes............

[commentguy1234]

What are you 80? Still watching those cave paintings or do you actually turn on the television or go to the movies?

[johnnygoodwud]

her parents against lohans in a world wrestling tagteam smackdown

[happycat]

They must like to party with the Lohans.

[mediamarv]

Who the hell is she??

Flavor du jour??

[dec8ur]

she plays claire on heroes (nbc) that show is the only reason my tv even get turn on, on a regular basis.