00:00Yesterday I posted about my experience directing Hayden.
00:03Every outlet from Fox News to Inside Edition tried to get me on the phone and I passed
00:06because the useful part of what I'm trying to say might not survive somebody else's edit
00:11and I'd rather just tell you exactly why they're calling.
00:14When I think about this, it's not just a Hayden story
00:17because I grew up on movie sets and I know a whole lot of child actors very well
00:21and I understand what it does to somebody to be put in front of a camera
00:24before they're old enough to consent.
00:26And Hayden started acting when she was 11 months old.
00:30So I was rooting for Hayden to beat the addiction that she spoke about openly
00:34and publicly herself in her memoir.
00:36Producer or director, no matter how certain you are that an actor or crew member
00:40is in a bad situation, you don't have the proof or the benefit of the time to verify it.
00:44And you can adjust the schedule, you can collect internal reporting
00:47and you can assign a handler to make sure that that individual is being taken care of
00:52as best as they can.
00:53When we wrapped, however, I stayed in touch with her team
00:56and what eventually got determined was that she might need an intervention
01:01and I was asked to participate.
01:03And I said yes.
01:04And that intervention did not happen, at least not that I'm aware of.
01:07And I wasn't leading the charge on it.
01:09It wouldn't have been appropriate for me.
01:11Media journalists are calling me about what they want to know
01:14is the man that Hayden brought with her.
01:16And all I know about that is what we observed and wrote down at the time that it happened
01:23with her boyfriend, Brian Hickerson.
01:25I can also say that what's true is what's public record and you can look it up yourself
01:29because in 2021, he pleaded no contest to felony counts of injuring a spouse, which was Hayden.
01:36And there's other counts that were dismissed and he served time in jail and he was on probation
01:40and she had a restraining order against him the year before.
01:42And then three days before she died, a judge denied his motion to have the felony convictions reduced.
01:50Hayden's mom, Leslie, said that there was someone
01:53that had been trying to get out of her life for a long time
01:55and that he was with her the day that she died.
01:58The coroner has not ruled a cause or a manner of death.
02:01The police have said their investigation showed no indication of foul play
02:05and no one has accused that man of anything in connection with her death.
02:08I wasn't in South Carolina.
02:10I don't know what happened.
02:11But what I will say is my opinion, and it's only about what I saw on my own set,
02:15somebody fighting to stay sober who deserved better company around them than what I observed.
02:21Hollywood has an extremely sad history of stars not getting the help that they deserve
02:25and our business has no fix for that.
02:28So our observations, they just get written down and thrown into a production report.
02:32And then a year later, you're just reading the news.
02:34So I was very lucky to work with Hayden.
02:36I wish he was still here.
02:37If you're watching somebody who needs help, I have links and resources in the description.
02:42It's a free confidential line for people in our industry specifically,
02:45and it's free and it's 24 hours.
02:47If you need it, it's in the description.
02:49And if you have any questions about what I'm saying,
02:50just put it in the comments and I'll answer what I can.
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