14 DAY TRIAL // At 19, “Heroes” star Hayden Panettiere is more grown up that many stars older than her. The petite blonde actress credits her maturity to having had to grow up in the spotlight, a thing she would never desire for her own children – her four children, to be more precise, because that’s how many she plans to have as soon as she can, as she admits in her latest interview with the UK version of InStyle magazine.
The actress has always dreamed of having a large family and, even if the future does not seem to hold any plans for a wedding, since she has just recently split from her boyfriend and co-star Milo Ventimiglia, she still has everything else well sorted out.
For starters, Hayden tells the mag, she does not want her children to grow up in the public spotlight. Even if she personally did a fine job at not caving in to the pressure and criticism, it’s not something she would want for any child, let alone hers.
“I always said I want four kids – I love kids. I would love to be a mum and to have a family – for Italians, it’s the most important thing you can have.” Hayden tells the mag. “I think you have to be a pretty strong person to enter the industry that young and not be affected by it. I was lucky, but I’d never want my kids to be subject to that much criticism at such a young age.” the actress adds. However, Hayden is not the first celebrity to voice her intention of raising her children away from the public eye, having experienced the effects of that much media attention firsthand.
As noted above, the actress will have to wait a bit more until she gets to see her family plans become a reality. After a long dating period, she and co-star Milo broke up a short while back, with sources close to the former couple saying that the age difference (Milo is Hayden’s senior by 12 years) and the different preoccupations and priorities were to blame for the split. At the same time, sources also hinted that a pregnancy scare ended their romance of almost 2 years, with one of them being completely horrified by the idea of becoming a parent at that stage.
Hayden and Milo reportedly stated going out together in late 2007, but for quite some time both denied any romantic involvement. Hayden was only 18 at the time, which might have been a reason for their secrecy, it has been said. The two never truly publicly acknowledged their relationship in any way, as neither did they in the case of the breakup.