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7 Questions with Hayden Panettiere

Written by Ftopel on

(Photo: Getty)

If you see Hayden Panettiere playing a cheerleader, don’t be so sure it’s Heroes. She also played one in a straight to video Bring it On sequel, and in the teen comedy I Love You, Beth Cooper. She also took in some rays on Elton John’s yacht during the Cannes Film Festival, showed off her tattoo (with a misspelled Italian mantra) and may or may not have dated TV presenter Steve Jones. We got to the bottom of all that.

Hayden+Panettiere in 'Star Trek' Los Angeles Premiere

Zimbio: Can you demand a bonus for putting on a cheerleader outfit or doing cheerleader moves in a movie?
Hayden Panettiere: I wish! I think I’m just going to start putting in my contract that I refuse to wear a cheerleading outfit for the rest of my career. In this film I only had to put it on once for a picture, but that was it.

Zimbio: I’m saying you should cash in on it, because it’s a big selling point for them.
Hayden Panettiere: I know. I don’t know why I always manage to find my way back to the cheerleading outfit.

Zimbio: I Love You, Beth Cooper also shows you driving drunk, which might cause some uproar with parents. Do you think a little recklessness is part of growing up?
Hayden Panettiere: Absolutely. All the kids I grew up with were the same. I think people are being a little naïve if they don’t know that that’s going on, and they don’t want to come to terms with it. It’s a film, it’s a funny film, but you can’t be too nervous to speak the truth, because chances are your kids aren’t off in college or high school drinking juice boxes. It’s probably not likely, but this is a character, you know. It’s not me, it’s a character that we’ve created and tried to stay true to with the book and the story and if they want to uproar, they can do it all the want.

Hayden Panettiere Sunbathing On Yacht At Cannes 2

Zimbio: What were you doing on Elton John’s yacht in Cannes?
Hayden Panettiere: Oh, I was just on vacation and some friends were going, so I decided to come along and it was quite an experience.

Zimbio: That’s not just an average weekend for you?
Hayden Panettiere: No, it’s not. It’s actually a very interesting and very strange world and I was glad that I had the [chance to] experience. It just shows you how out of balance the world is. You go to these places during the [Cannes] film festival and these people have work, money and wealth and all of that. It’s just imbalanced knowing what a lot of the world looks like, and it’s crazy, but I would never want it. It’s great to have a friend with a boat, and a friend with a plane and a friend with houses all over the world. It’s a responsibility but it was quite the experience.

Hayden+Panettiere in Hayden Panettiere Leaving Beso Restaurant

Zimbio: How did you end up with a misspelled tattoo on your back?
Hayden Panettiere: Are we talking about the movie or are we talking about personal rumors?

Zimbio: The rumors. Please continue.
Hayden Panettiere: It is misspelled, whatever, Vivere senza rimpianti. I put my own spin to it.

Zimbio: So laughing and living with it is better than just getting it fixed?
Hayden Panettiere: Yeah, I mean, I’m not rushing in that direction. Chances are I’ll probably get it fixed, but that’s why I love having it on my back; because I don’t get bored of it. I don’t have to stare at it all the time, but then you have it on your back and you don’t realize that it’s misspelled either.

Zimbio: What’s harder: High school dating or Hollywood dating?
Hayden Panettiere: God, I don’t know, both of them are terrible. In Hollywood it’s either you’re single or you’re not. There is no in between. There is no dating. No one allows you the ability to have fun and be young and hang out with people and just give you the ability to just say, “Hey, I’m just enjoying someone for who they are.” Just because it’s a guy doesn’t necessarily mean I’m dating them, you know? Every girl I walk down the street with doesn’t mean I’m dating them.

Hayden+Panettiere in Hayden Panettiere Campaigns For Save The Whales Again!

Zimbio: So Steve Jones is just a friend you go sunbathing with?
Hayden Panettiere: He lives in London. The distance is a bit too [much]. I have a lot of good friends.

Zimbio: Do you have a certain type that you go for?
Hayden Panettiere: Type? I’m a big personality person so you need to be cool with who you are. You need to be confident with who you are, because in order to be with someone like me in the industry that I’m in, we go out and have to mingle at parties. That line is blurred between our jobs and our personal life and it goes beyond just standing on set and acting. It takes a secure person that I like, somebody who gets my sense of humor. I can have a very dry sense of humor sometimes.

Zimbio: How would you feel if a fan got up and declared, “I love you, Hayden Panettiere?”
Hayden Panettiere: Well, I think people might, at this point, only fall in love with me for the wrong reason. I mean, most of the time if somebody is doing a confession or something like that, it’s a fan or someone who watches what I do. How can you really say, “I love you?” I think after a while there are certain telltale signs and I became really good at reading people, but could you ever really, really be sure? People surprise you sometimes, and most of the time when it’s a surprise it’s generally for the worst. I just surround myself with good people and I have really great friends and people that I trust, and I trust my instincts.

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