The Hayden you haven't met: she plays an indestructible cheerleader on the hit TV show Heroes ... and offscreen, Hayden Panettiere is just as fierce. Listen in as she opens up about guys, messed-up actresses, and being a "good bad girl.".(COSMO NEWS: interview)(Interview)(Cover story)

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At first glance, Hayden Panettiere seems to have ed the glamorous celebrity aura, as evidenced by the chic, head-to-toe black ensemble that she is wearing---complete with Ray-Bans perched on her head and sexy thigh-high boots on her teeny, size-5 1/2 feet. But it quickly becomes clear that Hayden is not at all concerned with perpetuating some Hollywood ideal.

"What's with all the salads?" she asks, checking out the menu at Los Angeles's Four Seasons Hotel, where her Cosmo interview is taking place. She orders the mac and cheese, minus the ham (she's recently become a vegetarian), and when it arrives, she dives in.

Spend a little time with the 18-year-old actress and you'll soon discover that she 'also has an appetite for defying expectations. Thanks to her role as unbreakable high school cheerleader Claire Bennet on NBC's hit Heroes, Hayden is one of TV's brightest stars, but she'd rather kick butt than be pampered. "I do as many of my own stunts as they'll let me do," says the petite powerhouse. "Not a whole 10t scares me."

That includes the potential perils of fame. "I think that people look at me as just another one of those girls who's going to screw up, like 'She's going to get into drugs, and she's going to get into the parties,'" says Hayden, who stars opposite Julia Roberts in the upcoming film Fireflies in the Garden. "I have the occasional glass of champagne when I'm celebrating something, but generally, I don't drink. I'm a pizza-and-a-movie girl."

Spoken like a true New York native! Hayden landed her first commercial at just 11 months old, back when she still lived on the East Coast. She appeared in such movies as Remember the Titans, with Denzel Washington, and The Affair of the Necklace, with Hilary Swank. She 'also played Calista Flockhart's daughter during the last season of Ally McBeal. Her key to remaining grounded while climbing the Hollywood ranks? "The biggest thing is just to surround yourself with good people who keep you driven and keep you going where you want to go," she says, "people who let you know that it's okay to be you."

These days, that social circle is said to include her Heroes costar Milo Ventimiglia, whom she's reportedly been dating since this past fall. (She and Laguna Beach star Stephen Colletti broke up last year after more than a year together.) However, if she were dating Milo---or anyone else for that matter--she's not likely to admit it. Her private life, she says with a shrug, "is no one else's business."