James Blunt breaks silence on Hayden Panettiere sex claims

James Blunt has responded to online speculation linking him to an encounter described in Hayden Panettiere’s memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning. Blunt, 52, shared a Substack article on Monday written by journalist Dean Piper arguing that Blunt was not the unnamed British singer-songwriter mentioned in Panettiere’s account. The memoir, released last year, says Panettiere was 18 when a friend took her onto a yacht to meet a singer in his 30s, only for her to find the man naked in bed. Piper disputed the timeline, pointing to a 2009 Cannes photo showing Panettiere at 19, and claimed additional factors rule Blunt out. Panettiere died at 36 in Greenville, South Carolina, on August 16 in a suspected overdose; the DEA is now involved.