BAD ROMANCE

Pals fear for Hayden Panettiere as she prepares to walk down the aisle with Brian Hickerson

As Hayden Panettiere’s toxic relationship with Brian Hickerson intensifies, friends fear that the pair will take their troubles all the way to the altar.

Out and about in LA on May 13, Hayden Panettiere and her boyfriend of nine months, Brian Hickerson, looked as close as ever. Wearing matching necklaces, they held hands as they ran errands and grabbed a bite to eat. It all seemed very, well, normal and relaxed.

But there was nothing normal or relaxed about what happened just 11 days earlier. On May 2, Brian, 30, was arrested at Hayden’s home on a charge of felony domestic violence, following an alleged alcohol-fueled altercation with the former Nashville

star. While alarms should be going off for Hayden, 29, Life & Style has exclusively learned that the actress is not only overlooking her beau’s bad behavior, she’s now hearing wedding bells. “Hayden and Brian are planning to get married,” reveals a source. “Friends think it’s a terrible decision, but they’ve told each other they’re in it for the long haul. Hayden knows all about Brian’s problems, and she says nobody’s perfect, including herself!”

TOXIC TWOSOME

Life has been considerably less than perfect ever since the couple started dating last August. In October, police responded to an assault and battery call involving Brian and his father at the latter’s home in South Carolina. Hayden (who checked into rehab in 2015, citing postpartum depression) was reportedly frantic when the cops arrived. Then, in March, the aspiring actor crashed into several parked cars and a neighbor’s gate after a night out. “Brian has a negative impact on Hayden’s menta l wel l- being,” notes the source. “When things are bad, it’s like a hurricane hit.”

Their mutual love of partying helps fuel the dysfunction. “They’l l urge each other to drink,” the source explains. “And when they’re wasted, emotions run high — they’ll either be all over one another or have a blowout fight so bad you can hear the screaming down the street. Everyone is fed up with all the drama.”

But Hayden — who has gushed about Brian, saying that she learns “something new from him every day” — is in “complete denial about how bad things

are,” says the source. “She thinks marrying him will give her the stability she needs, which is a joke.” Those close to Hayden have warned her that if she goes through with a wedding, “there’ll be no escape,” adds the source. “The problem is, she won’t listen. Brian is like a drug to her.”

With so little support among pals for the romance, “they think it’ll be easiest to elope,” the source says. “No one would be surprised if Brian and Hayden just get drunk and run off to Vegas to marry.”