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Hayden Panettiere revealed that the “very famous” and “undressed” man she was forced into bed with at just 18 years old was a “famous thirty-something British singer-songwriter.”
The actress divulged the information on his identity in her new memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” which was released on Tuesday, after she initially opened up about the incident on Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast.
Panettiere, 36, writes that the horrifying experience occurred during a trip to the South of France aboard what she describes as a “super yacht” filled with celebrities.
At the time, she was traveling with a close friend, whom she refers to only with the pseudonym Stella McAmis.
The trip took a dark turn towards the end when Panettiere says McAmis approached her during dinner and asked her to come downstairs to meet someone.
McAmis led the “Nashville” alum through a narrow hallway and into a private cabin where Panettiere discovered the “famous thirty-something British singer-songwriter” shirtless in bed under sheets.
“‘Oh my God,’ I thought. ‘Is he naked under there?’” she writes, claiming her trusted friend whispered to her, “I want you to get in bed with him. He has a huge dick,” before leaving them alone in the room.
Though Panettiere writes that her heart was “pounding” with fear, her “thoughts were a blur” and she initially followed the friend’s orders since she was so used to being “managed” by others as a child star.
However, once she was alone with the man, she realized she couldn’t let the situation go any further.
“Look,” she recalls saying, “I don’t know what she said to you, but this is not going to happen. Shen then hurried out of the room and made arrangements to leave the yacht as soon as possible.
“I wasn’t scared, but I felt like I’d been kicked in the face,” she writes of her former friend’s actions. “She’d confided in me, pampered me, and treated me like her best friend — then turned around and treated me like a call girl. I deserved better than that, by a lot.”
The “Heroes” alum has been keeping her friend’s true identity a secret, which initially led fans to speculate it was “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum Diana Jenkins.
But the former Bravo star shut down the rumors with a statement via her rep on May 13.
“Diana has had to deal with false online rumors before, and sadly this is just another example of that,” Jenkins’ spokesperson told TMZ. “So let me be 100 percent clear about this: It most certainly is not Diana, and anyone who claims it is her will be sued.”
When asked why she continues to keep the musician’s identity a secret, Panettiere admitted it is due to the fear of being sued.
