🎧 Hayden Panettiere’s Child-Star Tragedy; Bonta on Paramount ‘Playing Cute’

Hayden Panettiere worked in Hollywood since she was 11 months old, and by the time Heroes made her a household name at 16, she was already navigating the darker side of child stardom. The Wall Street Journal‘s Esther Zuckerman joins Elaine Low to reflect on Panettiere’s life, career and exploitation — including a top NBC exec kissing her on the lips when she was a teenager, and an Oscar winner who exposed himself — and the extreme emotional toll of growing up in front of the camera.

Then, California Attorney General Rob Bonta tells Elaine he is ready to talk to Paramount, a slight shift from his earlier hard-line posture. “Let there be no doubt here, now, or anywhere for any time. It has always been our position that coming to the table is always on the table,” he says, adding, “We prefer to resolve cases in the boardroom instead of the courtroom.”

So what’s stopping them? Bonta accuses Paramount of “playing cute” and mounting a PR campaign instead of offering the structural remedies the state AGs want. He’s equally dismissive of Paramount’s threat to move and request for a $1.9 billion bond: His argument is that Paramount voluntarily agreed to the ticking fee it faces — and now wants California taxpayers to pick up the tab for a problem it created for itself. “It’s revealing the weakness of their position. It looks desperate,” Bonta says. Elaine and Sean McNulty break down her chat with the California AG, as Hollywood guilds plead for resolution and the town lingers in uncertainty.