Josh Hartnett's Secret Love

Black Hawk Down star Josh Hartnett tackles dating dilemmas in his new film 40 Days and 40 Nights — opening Friday — but he's very secretive about his current real-life relationship. He's widely rumored to be dating a young woman from back home in Minneapolis, Minn. Asked if he's in love, Hartnett confesses: "I feel like I am."

Still, he draws the line at further inquiry on just who his lucky lady is. "People in my life didn't choose to be a part of this," the fame-trodden 23-year-old says. "I try to keep my family and friends out of it as much as possible."

Like his 40 Days character, Hartnett's suffered his share of heartbreak. How does the pinup cope with getting over a breakup? "I kind of wallow in the misery," he admits. "I'm sometimes kind of a dramatic guy. I kind of will sit there for maybe a little too long thinking about all the possibilities." Moaning, he mocks himself: "Why doesn't she love me?!"

No doubt many teenage fans would be thrilled to comfort Hartnett, should he ever end up suddenly single. The perennial magazine cover boy actually finds being a famous hottie pretty amusing — especially those gushing headlines often used to describe him! "It's always funny the little things they come up with, like Josh Heartthrob or Josh Hot-nett," he laughs. "I don't really pay all that much attention to that in my life. You can't pick up girls by saying, 'Hey, look at me on this magazine. Do you think I'm hot, too?'"

Just to answer one common teen mag query once and for all: No, the actor never seeks advice on handling love and fame from co-stars like Ben Affleck and Ewan McGregor. "I don't really need those guys to tell me how to live my life," Hartnett insists. "They're both really cool guys and I like hanging out with them and stuff like that. I'd ask somebody who I knew a little better than those guys what it was like."

"[Besides], what are they going to say," he wonders. "'I'm a really sexy guy, girls love me, here's how you deal with it'?"