Former “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Diana Jenkins is shutting down online speculation connecting her to a disturbing story shared by Hayden Panettiere in her new memoir. The controversy erupted after Panettiere described a traumatic incident from when she was 18 years old during a recent appearance on the “On Purpose with Jay Shetty” podcast while promoting her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning.
According to Panettiere, she was on a boat with friends when a woman she trusted allegedly led her into a small room and physically placed her into bed beside a “very famous” man who was already undressed.
“She physically put me in the bed next to this undressed man who was very famous,” Panettiere recalled during the interview, adding that the actor appeared completely unbothered, “like this was just an average day for him.”
Without naming anyone directly, Panettiere said the experience triggered a survival response.
“My hair stood on end and I became ferocious,” she explained. “I was like, ‘This is not happening.’”
Because the group was on a boat out on the water, Panettiere said she felt trapped and isolated.
“There was no jumping off and swimming away,” she said, adding that she realized nobody around her seemed shocked by the situation.
Following the interview, online speculation exploded across social media, with some internet users theorizing that the unnamed woman in the story was Diana Jenkins due to her past friendship with Panettiere.
Jenkins has now firmly denied those claims.
In a statement shared with TMZ, a spokesperson for Jenkins said:
“Diana has had to deal with false online rumors before, and sadly this is just another example of that.”
The statement continued:
“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.”
Panettiere has not publicly identified the woman involved in the incident, and her representatives reportedly did not respond to requests for comment following the speculation.
The actress also reflected on how the experience changed her understanding of adulthood and safety at the time.
“So even though I felt like I could make healthy decisions and safe decisions, I wasn’t capable of being fully aware of what was going on around me,” she shared.Panettiere’s memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, dives into several painful chapters of her life, including struggles with addiction, trauma, and life in Hollywood at a young age. The book officially released this week and has already sparked widespread discussion online.