Hayden Panettiere spoke about their friendship in depth, so who actually is Diana Jenkins?
She described their dynamic at the time as 'weird'
Hayden Panettiere and former RHOBH star Diana Jenkins were close friends when Hayden was still fairly young, so who exactly is Diana? Let’s find out more about her!
Sanela Diana Jenkins was born in 1973 in Sarajevo, in what was then Yugoslavia. During the Bosnian War her life changed dramatically as her younger brother, Irnis, was tragically killed age just 21 and she fled Sarajevo during the siege in April 1992.
She spent more than a year as a refugee in Croatia before settling in London, where she went on to earn a degree in computer science and economics from City University London.
In London she met British investment banker Roger Jenkins, who was working as a senior figure at Barclays at the time. The pair got married in 1999 and had two children, Innis and Eneya, before divorcing in 2011.
Diana Jenkins and Hayden Panettiere became friends around 20 years ago when Hayden was around 19 and Diana was around 50. They met around the making of Room 23, a photography book Diana produced with photographer Deborah Anderson that also featured Lindsay Lohan and Amanda Bynes.
The friendship resurfaced in the public eye in 2026 after Hayden published her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning. In the book, Hayden described their friendship, writing: “Diana was almost thirty years older than me, and while I’d always been mature for my age, it’s impossible to overlook an age difference that large. It was a weird friendship for sure, but as I stretched into my newfound adulthood, I had to see which relationships suited me, on my own terms. At that moment, Diana seemed like she could give me everything I needed.”
Diana has started numerous businesses including her own jewelry store, a swimwear label, a functional drinks brand and also runs the Sanela Diana Jenkins Foundation for Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2002.
She joined the RHOBH for its 12th season in 2022, but left after just one season. She announced that her reasons for quitting the show were down to her health concerns over her high risk pregnancy.
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