Hayden Panettiere Opens Up About Stephen Colletti: The Ex Who Taught Her Everything

Nearly two decades after her split from Stephen Colletti, Hayden Panettiere is finally sharing what that relationship meant—and it’s a lot more meaningful than a typical early-2000s celebrity fling. In a candid interview, the 36-year-old actress reveals that her time with the Laguna Beach star wasn’t just a romance; it was a masterclass in navigating fame when the spotlight was still new and overwhelming.

What makes Panettiere’s reflection so refreshing is her honesty about the stakes. She was just beginning to feel the weight of paparazzi and tabloid culture, and Colletti became an unexpected guide. Because he’d already spent time in the reality TV pressure cooker on MTV’s Laguna Beach from 2004 to 2005, he knew the terrain. Instead of feeding the drama, he showed her how to protect herself with boundaries that didn’t require becoming difficult or defensive. She credits him with teaching her that you could be gracious and private at the same time—a lesson that apparently stuck.

The breakup itself? Anticlimactic by Hollywood standards. Panettiere and Colletti dated for nearly two years after being linked in 2006, and when it ended by the close of 2007, there was no scandal to fuel the tabloids. No cheating rumors, no public feuds, no tell-all interviews. Just two people who went their separate ways peacefully. She laughs about it now:“It was so peaceful and kind.”In an era where celebrity splits are weaponized for press, that restraint feels almost radical.

What’s particularly striking is how Panettiere speaks about him now. After running into him recently, she discovered he’s about to become a father. She married Alex Weaver in 2025 and is expecting their first child. Panettiere’s response? Pure warmth:“I’m so happy for him.”She acknowledges they don’t stay in touch the way she’d like—he’s such a great guy, after all—but there’s zero bitterness in that admission. It’s the opposite of the messy ex narrative we’re conditioned to expect.

This matters because it offers a counternarrative to the celebrity romance mythology. Not every significant relationship needs to implode spectacularly or become fuel for your brand. Sometimes the people who teach you the most are simply good humans who show up when you need them, and then you both move forward without resentment. For someone who would go on to experience very different relationship dynamics—including a serious domestic violence incident with Brian Hickerson that resulted in his 2020 arrest—Panettiere’s gratitude for Colletti’s gentleness feels earned and real. She’s comparing him not to some fantasy ideal, but to her actual lived experience.

Panettiere is opening up about all of this as she promotes her new memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, hitting shelves on Tuesday, May 19. In it, she details her journey coming out as bisexual and processes the full arc of her emotional life. But maybe the most honest revelation in all of that isn’t about the dramatic moments—it’s about recognizing the people who made the hard parts manageable. Sometimes the most important relationships are the ones that end not with a bang, but with gratitude.