Hayden's Seventeen Interview: "Twenty years old, that's an adult."

Wonderwall, Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 11:33am (PDT)

"Heroes" star Hayden Panettiere has grown up quickly. She was only 16 when she was cast as the iconic invincible cheerleader which shot her to superstardom. With her older boyfriends, misspelled tattoos, and anger toward the media, she's a natural for staying in the headlines. And now going on 20 years old, the actress has got a lot to say and Seventeen is there to get it all on paper. The August issue hits newsstands on July 7, but if you like your reading done from the safety of a computer screen (without risk of paper cuts), we've selected a few highlights from her interview.

On lowering the drinking age (and raising the voting age?):

"If I was going to change the law, I'd actually say [you should be allowed to do] everything at 20. Being able to have a drink should be 20, being able to vote, at least being legally held responsible as an adult. Twenty years old, that's an adult."

On exploring the ocean floor:

"On this planet, there's the ocean and there's the land, and it blows my mind that people spend their entire lives here and don't experience what's right there in front of them."

On making up idioms:

"There's a saying: You don't know anyone truly until you see them at their worst, at their maddest, at their saddest, at their bottom. And you can be with someone for years until you see them at their bottom and they turn into someone else, and you're sitting there dumbstruck with your jaw on the floor going, 'I feel like I don't know you. I've spent all this time with you, and I feel like I don't know you.'"

On not knowing when to shut up:

"My instinct when I go through heartbreak or a bad situation is to talk about it. To just talk and talk and talk about it. But that's me, that's not everybody. A lot of people, you know, their instinct isn't to talk about it. Their instinct is to bury it and to distract themselves from it."

On falling in love with vampires:

"People fall so in love with characters in books or characters in movies, like 'Twilight,' you know? Girls are so in love with Robert Pattinson, because he played the part. They're in love with him as that character."

You can check out the full interview on July 7th, or see more on Seventeen's Web site.

More on Wonderwall:

Check out more photos of Hayden

Who are the Top 10 Too Cool and Above it All Stars?

Take a visit to the Hollywood Tattoo Parlor

Check out Hayden and other green celebs

More on Seventeen:

See How Haydens Look Has Changed

Celebs Looking Their Worst

Robert Pattinson Answers 17 Juicy Questions

Pictures from the Set of New Moon