Hayden Panettiere Pulls Back the Curtain on Her Stephen Colletti Romance — and Why It Fell Apart
Nearly two decades after their split, Hayden Panettiere opens up about her whirlwind fling with Laguna Beach alum Stephen Colletti — and why she’s still grateful it happened — in Us Weekly’s new cover story.
Hayden Panettiere is looking back at her mid-2000s thing with Laguna Beach alum Stephen Colletti, and the headline is basically: sweet, helpful, zero scandal. In a new Us Weekly cover story tied to her memoir rollout, she opens up about why that relationship mattered and how it quietly shaped how she handled fame.
The short version of the romance
Panettiere, 36, and Colletti, 40, were linked in 2006 and dated for close to two years, calling it around the end of 2007. No cheating scandal, no fiery fight, no tabloid circus ending. Just two people moving on.
'We just ended up going our separate ways, there wasn't really a story there... no drama. '
Why Stephen made a difference
When they got together, Panettiere was just starting to feel the full blast of paparazzi and tabloid attention. Colletti had already been through that grinder thanks to MTV's Laguna Beach, which ran from 2004 to 2005. She says he was protective, showed her how to navigate it, and modeled a diplomatic, boundaries-first way of dealing with press without coming off like the villain. In other words, he had the manual and handed it over.
A very 2000s crossover
Colletti was already a household name from Laguna Beach thanks to his on-air relationship with Kristin Cavallari and the much-discussed flirting with Lauren 'LC' Conrad. After reality TV, he jumped to scripted work on One Tree Hill and later cocreated and starred in Everyone Is Doing Great. More recently, he married Alex Weaver in 2025, and the two are expecting their first child.
Where they stand now
Panettiere says she recently ran into Colletti for the first time in ages and was genuinely happy to hear he's about to be a dad. They do not keep in touch the way she wishes they did, but she doubles down on the same point: the relationship was kind, and the breakup was calm.
The rest of Hayden's timeline, for context
- Early start: Child star in the early '90s, then Heroes and Nashville made her a TV fixture.
- 2007 to 2009: Dated her Heroes costar Milo Ventimiglia, who is 12 years older.
- 2009 to 2013: On and off with boxer Wladimir Klitschko, 50. They got engaged in 2013 and welcomed daughter Kaya in December 2014. Split for good in August 2018.
- 2018 to 2020: Dated Brian Hickerson. They broke up after he served jail time following a domestic violence case. In 2020, Hickerson was charged with four domestic assault felonies, one misdemeanor battery count, two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and one felony count of dissuading a witness (Panettiere) from prosecuting. He pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend and was sentenced to 45 days in jail.
- Now: Panettiere has come out as bisexual and digs into all of this in her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, which hits shelves Tuesday, May 19.
The takeaway
For all the mid-2000s nostalgia here, the most interesting part is how un-messy it was. Panettiere credits Colletti with helping her learn to set boundaries in public and avoid the bad-guy edit. Not juicy, sure, but honestly kind of refreshing.