Inside the boat story rumours involving Hayden Panettiere, Diana Jenkins and James Blunt
Diana denies being the woman on the yacht
Years ago, there were rumours swirling about the late actress Hayden Panettiere and RHOBH’s Diana Jenkins allegedly being on a boat with singer James Blunt. Well, Diana denied being the woman on the yacht, after Hayden released her memoir, This is Me: A Reckoning.
During her appearance not the Jay Shetty podcast, Hayden claimed she was on a boat with friends when she was “led by somebody that I had grown to trust and see as a protector and somebody who had my back” down the stairs into a “very small” room.
“She physically put me in the bed next to this undressed man who was very famous,” she remembered of the incident, adding that for the unnamed male celebrity “[it was] like this was just an average day for him and this is something that happens all the time.”
Hayden said she went into survival mode and pulled out “that lion in me, that fire in me.” She added: “My hair stood on end and I became ferocious,” she noted. “I was like, ‘This is not happening.’” As they were on a boat out on the water, she was trapped with the woman.
i remember thinking the Diana Jenkins rumors seemed far-fetched … jfc what i wouldn’t give to be that naive again. here is a solid blind connecting Hayden to Diana Jenkins from 2012. nightmarish stuff yet totally believable given all we know now from the Epstein material 😞 https://t.co/6T8tGsiFah
— Julie Bush (@julie_bush) August 17, 2026
“There was no jumping off and swimming away,” she explained. “I realised there was nobody going to be empathetic to my situation, this was nothing new to them. Even though I felt like I could make healthy decisions, I wasn’t capable of being aware of what was going on.”
“Diana has had to deal with false online rumours before, and sadly this is just another example of that,” Jenkins’ spokesperson told TMZ Wednesday. “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.”
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Due to Hayden’s former friendship with Diana, there were baseless rumours she was the woman on the boat, and that the male on there was James Blunt, which again was speculation. The memoir later provided more detail about the woman involved, calling her Stella.
In James’ book, he has a chapter called ‘Diana’s Boat’ which reads: “When she still had money, and I still had fame, Diana Jenkins would take me to the Cannes Film Festival on a super yacht that she’d chartered. It was huge. Guests would fight to get on board with us.”
James Blunt’s representative has been contacted for comment.
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