Who could argue that Hayden Panettiere has emerged as the biggest star of NBC’s hit Heroes?  And now GQ is acknowledging that fact, naming the 18-year-old its “Obsession of the Year.”  Click here to watch the slideshow and video of her photo shoot.  And now that she’s 18, you can look without that pang of guilt that accompanied your ogling for the last year and a half.

Panettiere also appears decidedly unlike the Hollywood bad girls we’ve come to know in recent times.  She’s more involved in the environmental activist scene than the clubs.

But…she’s only 18, and has a lot of time in the spotlight before we can officially anoint her a “good girl.” After all, there was a time we even thought of Britney as clean.  Yes, it was a long time ago, but there was a time…