MILO VENTIMIGLIA - HEROES STARS COME CLEAN ABOUT ROMANCE

HEROES co-stars MILO VENTIMIGLIA and HAYDEN PANETTIERE have stopped pretending they're just good friends after cooing about their romance at a recent show party. Actor Ventimiglia toasted the actress at the pre-Christmas (07) Water Grill party in Los Angeles, telling co-stars he was in fact dating Panettiere. An eyewitness tells In Touch Weekly magazine, "He called her his girlfriend and said that he loved her." The couple spent the rest of the party sitting together and holding hands. Ventimiglia recently shrugged off romance reports, insisting he and his co-star were just "close friends". He said, "It's only natural that people are going to couple us together."