Hayden Panettiere

She’s not your normal, sweet, everyday girl—and that’s why we like her.

17 : Okay—gotta ask: What was it like fighting those whalers?!?

Hayden Panettiere: It was great! There’s very little that scares me. I’ve always been a physical person. And I feel like a lot of times in this industry, a lot of people loan their face to a cause, which is great, but it doesn’t do as much as getting out there and actually physically doing something. We knew we were doing the right thing—and we held our ground. Doing what I did made me feel so good: It made me feel like I was actually participating in something.

17: How does it feel to know that you’ve truly made a difference in the world?

Hayden Panettiere: It’s wonderful. You know, I was really surprised about how much people were impacted by it and how much publicity it got. You’ve got to have a DUI
or get arrested in Los Angeles to have any headline not turn into last week’s news. But this has stuck around! People have been so interested. To have paparazzi actually ask me that question instead of “What do you think of Lindsay Lohan going back to rehab?” was totally cool. And it’s wonderful having people come up to me and be like, “I support you with that 100 percent” and “What a great thing you did” and “I had no idea that was happening.”