Hayden Panettiere’s mom hits back at Gayle King after she questioned her comments about daughter’s death

The mother of Hayden Panettiere has responded to brutal remarks directed against her by Gayle King following the death of her daughter.

Panettiere died on August 16 at the age of 36, and was found in an apartment in South Carolina where paramedics attempted to perform CPR on her. Following her death it has been revealed that her ex-partner Brian Hickerson, 37, and his brother were with her when she died, and the DEA has now opened an investigation.

Following her daughter's death, Panettiere's estranged mom Lesley Vogel gave a statement which sparked a backlash, saying: "I think Hayden was an amazingly talented person in so many departments and I think young people who grow up in the entertainment industry - it is a struggle and it’s a very challenging industry and it’s not unusual for them to sadly find the wrong path."

Among those who criticized Vogel over her remarks was TV personality Gayle King, who repeated her remarks on CBS Mornings on Wednesday, before adding: "It makes me so sad of the opportunity that you have after your daughter's death that that's what you choose to leave us with… You read this and all I can think is, 'Thanks, Mom, for nothing'."

Vogel has now sat down for a tell-all interview with the Daily Mail where she hit back at King.

Panettiere died on August 16 (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

“I was very, very hurt and deeply disappointed in the lack of professionalism, the lack of compassion in slamming someone who’s lost two children, without even a modicum of consideration,” she told the outlet, “No one reached out to me before. It’s shameful. It’s unconscionable to me.”

In her initial remarks Vogel had criticized Panettiere's on-again, off-again boyfriend Hickerson, who has served time in jail over charges related to domestic violence.

“This person in her life that we have been trying to get rid of for quite some time was with her at her death,” she said, “and that was Brian Hickerson.”

King had criticized Vogel over not taking the approach of Panettiere's father, Skip Panettiere, who shared a statement about his late daughter's 'incredible light and a force of nature.'

Others on the show agreed with Vogel, including Kelly O'Grady, who said that Vogel ought to have 'stopped at ‘she’s amazing and she’s talented'.

The star was just 36-year-old (Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)

Vladimir Duthiers also weighed in, saying: “For her mother to use these days after Hayden’s death to just remind the world just how much trauma she caused, it’s unseemly.

“You would hope a mother’s instinct is just mourn your daughter.”

Vogel has also previously released a broader statement addressing the backlash against her initial remarks, which she shared with Entertainment Tonight.

“Although my daughter and I were estranged, it was not for lack of care or love,” she said. “It was due to the involvement of a toxic individual who I believe led to her death.”

Vogel had also previously reacted to the blunt way in which Panettiere had described their relationship in her memoir This is Me: A Reckoning, which was released in May.

“As many parents of entertainment children [know], we are all too familiar with the painful observation of watching the self-destructive paths they sometimes choose,” Vogel told Page Six, adding: "You cannot save someone who does not want to be saved."