By JOANNA CRAWLEY, DEPUTY SHOWBIZ EDITOR (NEWS) and JUSTIN ENRIQUEZ, US ASSISTANT SHOWBIZ EDITOR
Published: 14:33 BST, 25 August 2026 | Updated: 15:13 BST, 25 August 2026
These are the photos of James Blunt and Hayden Panettiere which sparked wild rumours he was the 'famous British singer' who the actress was put into bed with when she was just 18.
The photos taken in Cannes in 2009 show Panettiere and Blunt at an amfAR charity event with actor Justin Long and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Diana Jenkins.
Other pictures show Panettiere and Blunt with friends on a yacht the day after the party.
Since Panettiere's tragic death on August 16, the 2009 photos have sparked wild internet rumours that James is the unnamed musician from the late actress's May 2026 memoir.
On Monday the speculation prompted Blunt to share a link to a Substack article which argued he was not the 'famous British singer' featured in the book.
In her memoir, Panettiere wrote she was 18 when a friend brought her on to a yacht to meet a British singer-songwriter who was in his 30s at the time, only for her to walk into a cabin and find the man naked in bed.
Photos of James Blunt and Hayden Panettiere together in Cannes have emerged after he addressed the speculation he was the 'famous British singer' who the actress was put into bed with when she was just 18
The photos taken in 2009 show Panettiere and Blunt at an amfAR charity event with actor Justin Long and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Diana Jenkins
Many internet sleuths had speculated that the unnamed man mentioned in Panettiere's memoir was Blunt, but the Substack article shared by the singer, which was written by journalist Dean Piper, claimed that the timeline does not fit.
When contacted by the Daily Mail in recent months, Blunt's representatives have categorically denied any insinuation that the singer is the one referenced in Panettiere's memoir.
Piper had pointed out that the photos of Blunt and Panettiere were actually taken when the actress was 19 years old, nearly 20, at the time.
The rumours were sparked due to the aforementioned photos and a 2009 article written by Piper, which claimed Blunt and Panettiere were flirty at a charity event the day before being spotted on a boat together.
However, Piper claimed in his new piece if the alleged yacht bed encounter had happened when Panettiere was 18, there was no way that Blunt had been involved.
