Hilary Duff Talks Using Music To ‘Re-Introduce’ Self From Lizzie McGuire Shadow

Hilary Duff recalls her most famous role.

The star first gained recognition as the title character of the Disney Channel series “Lizzie McGuire” in the early 2000s. Since then, she has expanded her career to include music, film and television projects and has become a popular public figure. In a recent interview, she opened up about her challenges navigating adolescence and the fame that came with it.

Hilary Duff shares how music helped her move past her ‘Lizzie McGuire’ image

As a young star in Hollywood, it may not be easy to shed that persona when you become an adult. Despite her success, Duff has been open about the challenges she’s faced in the entertainment industry, especially after leaving the popular series she started at age 13.

While chatting with Josh Peck and Ben Differ on their podcast, “Good Guys,” the actress talked about several things in her life and explained how she was able to re-emerge as her own person after Disney.

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After her breakout role in the channel’s eponymous show, she shared that she needed to establish her own identity. She explained that she wanted to break away from the character that made her famous and be recognized for her talents and abilities.

The mother of three said she didn’t want to be that character anymore, no matter how “cool it was.” She noted that for a very long time:

“People were just like, ‘Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie.’ And still, to this day, which it doesn’t bother me anymore, but it did for a while, I just desperately needed to be my own person.”

The author decided to go into music because she felt it was a good way to distract people from seeing her as a famous fictional character. “I think I thought music would be a good way to introduce myself, reintroduce myself, and it was,” she said.

The 35-year-old revealed it wasn’t an easy road, and it took five years of her life to navigate into the person she wanted to be without outside influence. In her words:

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“I remember being on tour and having moms come up to me and say, ‘Never change! Whatever you do, just never, never, never change!'”

She noted that it didn’t help her to hear that, even though she was sure they meant well. When asked if she was still making music, the “How I Met Your Father” star said she hadn’t been working on any new songs for a while.

She recalled that fans found out where they lived and sang her songs to her all night when she was on vacation in Mexico with her husband a long time ago. She noted that in addition to having three children to take care of, situations like that were part of the reason she decided not to make music for a while.

The “Cinderella Story” star remembers her marriage to husband Matthew Koma with a sweet post

The couple, who had been dating for three years before getting engaged, exchanged their wedding vows in an intimate ceremony held in the backyard of their Los Angeles home in 2019.

Three years and a few children later, Tops shared that she celebrated their third wedding anniversary by sharing some adorable throwback photos on social media.

She posted a carousel of photos showing their journey together, like the first photo, which showed the couple walking down the aisle after their wedding ceremony, to the mirror selfie of the couple holding her baby bump.

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The other heartwarming memories were visiting a herd of alpacas and cuddling their babies in the sun, an older throwback photo of Duff with green-dyed hair and Koma wearing earrings, and a family portrait taken near the ocean on the beach.

She gushed in the caption“Matthew. I love you so much. Happy 3 years! I don’t know if you knew what you were getting yourself into or that you wouldn’t sleep or sit down for the next 5-10 years, but I think you most are pretty happy with it. Our life is so full, and I’m beyond grateful for the guy I got to do all this crazy stuff with.”