Hilary Duff has overwhelming fame: ‘I’ve dealt with it for such a long time’

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I don’t really care about Hilary Duff one way or the other. I wish her no harm, but I’m not really interested in her life. As such, I think I have gossip tunnel-vision about Duff (and some other celebrities). Like, I don’t “get” why Hilary Duff is important or notable enough to get this cover of Elle Canada. I realize she was once an actress and singer and I applaud her for not being a mess like Lindsay Lohan, but beyond that, why are we still talking about Hilary Duff? So you can imagine my reaction when I read some of the quotes about how hard it is for Hilary to deal with her fame. I mean…???? Does she get pap’d a lot? Yep. And she’s one of those too – she calls the paparazzi and goes to pap-friendly places, then complains about the attention (she also posts a lot of personal stuff on social media too, just FYI). Anyway… here are some highlights from the Elle Canada piece:

Going through difficult times in the public eye: “I have a good therapist! I’ve dealt with [media attention] for such a long time. But some of the bigger struggles that came my way in the past two years — like my separation or when my parents separated — were the first times I had to deal with people knowing about something personal happening to my family. It just felt so invasive and insensitive. It got really gross, and I think part of you gets a bit desensitized. The best way to handle it is by just owning your s–t. I’m human and this is what happened. None of us is perfect.”

Her son Luca is starting to understand her fame: “I don’t tell him anything about my job, but he knows Mommy’s a singer and an actress. We have this book called Goodnight Los Angeles. It’s like, ‘Goodnight, movie stars and entertainers of Los Angeles!’ and it shows people working on a set and having their names in lights. Mike’s always telling Luca ‘This is where Mommy is!’ when I’m at work.”

Aaron Carter’s creepy obsession with her: “Oh, God, I feel so uncomfortable right now. I don’t know what to say. The more I talk about it, the more I think he’s going to talk about it. We were like 13 and 14… I don’t want him to be hurt — I don’t want to make anyone feel like that — but it’s time to move on. I have. What’s funny, though, is that those feelings — I’m not talking about him but young love in general — feel so real. You always kind of think about it. When you’re dating, you can never quite get that excitement again, because you’re never that age again.”

How she managed to not go crazy: “I think I’m more content now — especially since I took time out of being on tour and in movies. It was hard because [when I was 16] everything I did was watched. I had this idea of who I was, but the whole world thought I was so much bigger. It was a very confusing time. It was a lot of pressure, and I became more content with myself when all the competition was gone and I could make choices for myself. I f–ked up along the way too, but I got to do it quietly, which was awesome. Now, turning 27 feels weird. I still kind of feel like a kid. I’m a kid with a kid.”

Her new music: “I don’t need to work; I want to work. But I like to be successful, and it can’t be done half-assed in this industry. I feel guilty a little bit, but I know that I’m going to be the best mom when I’m a happy person, and this makes me really happy.”

[From Elle Canada]

I think she’s dealing with that creepy Aaron Carter situation the best she can. That man is weirdly obsessed with her and she’s trying not to engage that much, while still cutting him a break. As for all of the stuff about her fame…????? I guess it’s my gossip tunnel-vision. Plus, I’m old. I was too old to ever have any interest in Hilary Duff when she was actually a big star. From what I can see, she’s still riding on that old fame and goodwill. Eh. She doesn’t seem like a bad person (at all), but she seems like she has a bit of an overinflated sense of her place in the gossip food chain.

By the way, the last time I checked, I think Hilary and Mike Comrie are pretty much back together. I kind of think their separation was mostly to get attention, because they are RARELY apart. I guess the couple that spends half of their marriage in counseling needs something to show for it.

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Photos courtesy of Elle Canada.

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51 Responses to “Hilary Duff has overwhelming fame: ‘I’ve dealt with it for such a long time’”

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  1. outstandingworldcitizen says:

    Too old to have been a fan. Think she’s trying to comeback which is on par with a Mandy Moore return. I would assume her die hard fans don’t care either. Unfortunately being a well adjusted adult/ used to be child star does tittalate. Meh!

    • Virgilia Coriolanus says:

      Mandy Moore, at least has done more than pap strolls a couple times a week after her IT girl days ended…..she’s actually been working pretty steadily. I can’t think of anything that Hilary Duff has done beyond Disney shows/movies, and a few albums….like 5-10 years ago.

      • Leah says:

        The only solid thing I know she’s done is voice Callie on Sheriff Callie. It’s such a cute show though. I can’t hate on her for it.

  2. Buckwild says:

    She’s delusional. She hasn’t done anything other than pap strolls since she passed 20 and she’s making it sound like people are still so interested in her.

    • Brin says:

      IKR?! Get a grip, Hilary.

    • AntiSocialButterfly says:

      Agree. My first thought: “Whaaa????” Second thought: Of whom is that a picture? Can’t be the Duffster.

    • Mia V. says:

      The only person interested in her is Aaron Carter, which shows her game isn’t big anymore.

    • qwerty says:

      Yep, she lives off those pap shots

    • deehunny says:

      I don’t understand the hate. In her interviews, she always sounds level headed and mature, and seems gracious.

      • Mira says:

        I agree! Yeah, she hasn’t done anything for awhile, but she’s trying to get a career started again. Of course she’s going to use her past resume to try to get restarted! I think she should change tactics though, because it’s clearly not working.

  3. Mia V. says:

    Girl, you’re not famous anymore, stawp.

  4. Illyra says:

    Is that actually her on the cover? She looks different somehow…

    • Neelyo says:

      I was about to say the same thing. It’s like she went to a plastic surgeon and said, ‘Gimme the Kate Moss Special!’

    • Ag says:

      i thought it was jessical biel. i guess they broke the photoshop on that one. unnecessarily so, because she’s a very pretty woman.

    • Mel M says:

      MTE! I didn’t not realize it was her until I read the headline.

  5. Hautie says:

    I suspected Hilary really did file legal separation papers. Because she had a husband who was acting like an ass. And humiliating her publicly. So she got his attention. By putting his ass out on the curb. It seems to have work. Good for her.

    If she really wanted to recover some kind of career, she needs a better plan. Do some odd TV jobs. Get a few acting jobs, being different kind of characters that are not a happy chipmunk.

    It’s that curse of Disney for female tweeners. You are label a “goody-goody”. A female needs to be able to show some depth. She seems harmless enough. But she needs a better career planner.

    But lord, I do not mean freak out and turn into Miley Cyrus. Who has spent the better part of the last decade, attempting to show every one in American…. her hoo-ha and boobs. For Free.

    • Sugar says:

      She has a new TV series coming out next year with Sutton Foster and Debi Mazar. She’s doing just fine.

  6. cs says:

    I guess she got the cover because her husband is from a Canadian billionaire family? Also he used to be a hockey player (although by no stretch of the imagination a superstar), which is a bigger deal in Canada than USA, I guess. She’s probably bigger gossip fodder there than in Hollywood.

    I feel kind of bad for her. So many child actors try so hard but can’t seem to break out of their childhood fame to be taken seriously in more adult stuff, and Hilary Duff tried everything back in the day. But quite frankly I didn’t like the recent stuff she’s put out and can’t justify buying it to myself. I was pretty happy for her when she announced she was separating from her husband because you hear a lot of stories about him being a cheating a-hole, but yeah it’s at a point where I think she probably did it for publicity. She also needs to stop talking about Aaron Carter (if you follow her stuff since her ‘comeback’ sometimes she brings up the situation without prompting from other people).

    • JBC says:

      Just to offer a Canadian’s perspective: Mike Comrie’s family does have money. Not billionaire status though…they own a big furniture retailer but they are not newsmakers.
      Yes, for sure, hockey players tend to be better known here, it’s not all of them. I’m a hockey fan but Comrie would definitely be a forgotten name if he wasn’t Mr. Duff. From an average person’s perspective they’ll know the big, marquis players (Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin, Lundqvist) and likely at least be aware of the names of Canadians that do well in the league (think Stamkos, Toews). Of course there likely to know some of the names of the players on their local NHL teams. All that said however, just because she’s married to a Canadian former hockey player, she is most certainly not of any more interest to us Canadians.

    • Anna says:

      I am Canadian, and never heard of Mike Comrie until he married her.

  7. danielle says:

    No hate, she seems like a nice enough person, but she works? What was the last acting job she had? I buy that she auditions, maybe….

  8. Maria says:

    Ugh, she clearly has delusions of grandeur.

    She’s a pretty woman, her body is amazing, and I’ve no doubt she’s a great mom but successful???

    Not in years.

  9. shunty says:

    She looks like the love child of Beyoncé and kim kardashian

  10. KC says:

    Yeah, I don’t know what she does short of modeling/being a spokesperson for that athletic company and that was before Luca. I just came here to say post-baby she looks STUNNING! I can understand the motivation behind Aaron’s obsession.

  11. Grace says:

    Sheesh It’s only Elle CANADA for god’s sake. Not Vogue or something else that sells…

  12. sally says:

    I like her quote about young love. Its so accurate. You never quite feel that way again. Those hormones, first experiences..they really are special.

  13. bettyrose says:

    Why are there no pictures of Hillary Duff in this article?

  14. rahrahrooey says:

    She’s 27? I feel old. That’s all.

  15. Isa says:

    She has a new album and released a song that’s doing okay.
    She loves to focus on her lips. She posts photos of them on Instagram and her new music video she tries to draw attention to it in just about every shot.

  16. Murphy says:

    I thought they separated because he was banging tons of other chicks including her sister. I dunno-maybe they were able to work that out?

  17. Venuslotus says:

    I like what she said about young love.

  18. kri says:

    Um, I am underwhelmed. okay, so she was on disney or Nick channel. And Aaron Carter is stalking here. #k-listproblems. I hope she wears flats so she can flee from the mob that is constantly chasing her.

  19. Wren33 says:

    I don’t see her delusions of grandeur. It is not like she said she has overwhelming fame. She simply said that she has dealt with media attention for a long time, and it was hard for her personal struggles, like her separation, to be in the tabloids, which it was. I thought what she said about working was interesting and true – in order to be successful in Hollywood you need to go big or go home, and I’m sure courting fame is part of what is considered “success” and is what gets you projects. Of course she is choosing that, but I imagine it would be hard to start doing community theater and playing coffee houses if you are used to much more massive exposure.

  20. Justaposter says:

    If you have a tween up to I would say 15 year old, most know “Lizzie Mcguire” shows or movies.
    It is a cute show, and the movies aren’t that bad, and honestly, it is better then having your daughters watch some other Disney/NickJr person (Side eye to you Grande!)

    I think that is why she has had media attention for a very long time.

    • Me says:

      Your talking like her show is still out I don’t think the even show reruns. Maybe the fame she is talking about is when people confuse her with two broke chicks star.

  21. jwoolman says:

    Oh, honey. You don’t have overwhelming fame. You were successfully marketed by The Mouse to kids who like blondes and confused you with your character on a Disney show, even though you were the weakest actor of the bunch (including bit players) and couldn’t sing on key on a five note range until The Mouse hired engineers. Then your mom marketed you by producing movies “starring” you that aimed at the same undiscerning audience, along with downright theft of children’s parents’ ticket money on “concert tour” for which you were quite unprepared. I think you were abused by being put in such situations, and your mother’s single-minded focus on your peculiar career destroyed her marriage since your dad was left at home alone to just pay the bills. But as an adult, you haven’t grown as an actor or a singer. Just give it up and enjoy your non-famous life. I always thought you would make a good casual model and since you’re comfy in front of a camera, there are plenty of non-earthshaking ways to work that into a reasonable job. But nothing that requires insightful thinking, that’s been apparent in every interview I’ve seen with you since you were a kid. You’re nice enough, but not really in the same brain power league as many other Disney kids even on your own show.

    Anyway- Hilary really needs to open her eyes and see her past with an adult perspective. She was directable enough as a kid actor until the second season of Lizzie Maguire, when she lost all connection with the character and her mother convinced her that she was a superstar rather than a lucky lass who was part of a successful ensemble show. She was put on the Cheaper By the Dozen movies to try to draw the Disney crowd, but again she was the weakest actor even though just playing herself (a self-absorbed materialistic teenager). She was asked if the adult actors like Steve Martin gave her any acting tips, and she was proud to say “no”, the poor thing didn’t take that opportunity to learn either and didn’t realize it was a loss rather than an indication that she was already good.

    I’ve seen other kid actors who made remarkable strides in their acting skills from exposure to the skilled adult actors around them (Melissa Joan Hart, Selena Gomez and her siblings on Wizards for example), but Hilary is the only one who actually became worse over time (I assume because she was less directable or the director changed). She always seemed to love the spotlight and the lifestyle, but she obviously did not have the skills or the internal drive to really progress even as a kid. I think she would have been happier staying with her dad and living the rich kid’s life back home. She basically was just dragged along by her mom to auditions because her older sister really does have reasonable skills, and would have quit except for the Lizzie Maguire fluke. They really were planning to return home untill she got a callback. She got the Lizzie role because they liked the way she dressed, it fit the character. Nobody was blown away by her acting ability, they just liked her choice of clothes. That’s really sad. Any fame she has had is a testament to The Mouse’s skill in extracting every possible penny from kids who watch Disney shows. That’s why they all get pushed into singing whether or not they can do it- more sales, more ways to keep the kiddies’ eyeballs on the Disney screen and their parents buying Disney stuff.

    • tifzlan says:

      I was a pretty huge Lizzie McGuire fan back in the day and i completely agree with your assessment of her acting skills – or lack thereof. She was very bland and i have always gotten the impression that she WAS Lizzie McGuire rather than a character. As in, that bratty, know-it-all, eye-rolly teenage type was really who Hilary Duff was in real life.

    • Bridget says:

      Wow. Harsh… but spot on.

  22. lrm says:

    I’ll always have a soft spot for lizzie maguire [same with Ravyn Simone]-both great tween shows that I watched with my kids back in the day. Seriously, the shows out in recent years, that I’ve also watched-uuuugh. They are awful and obnoxious, reinforcing the rude/entitled generation….Lizzie was sweet, had challenges with her family but didn’t act like a snarky, rude a-hole to her parents or teachers….Same with That’s So Raven’. Also, the movie [Lizzie goes to Italy] is also just pure cheesy fun. Although I would not have watched any of these on purpose (lol), I actually really enjoyed them. So, good luck, Ms. Duff, with re-launching yourself. It’s a nice place to be-plenty of money, only 27. She can find her niche and develop it/herself.

  23. Anotherdirtymartini says:

    She was a big star?! Nah…

  24. Skins says:

    Who?

  25. MountainRunner says:

    Overwhelming fame? I’ve heard of her, but wouldn’t recognize her if she passed me on the street.

  26. serena says:

    I agree that now she doesn’t even have an inch of the fame she had, but I guess she’s still ‘someone’. At least now she’s working -kind of-.
    As for her argument, ‘fame is hard’ blabla I can see where she comes from. Hilary was cyberbullyied really bad first for her weight, then her face.. so yeah, she has a point (but stop bitching).

  27. katie says:

    Her pt about early stardom – so true! Which is what trips up many. I love how she never reveals what their probs are or who is to blame. Rumors have the separated couple going to counseling if true it looks like no more split!

  28. Mandy says:

    How many skunks had to die for that hideous outfit?

  29. lissilou says:

    It is the very rare kid channel star that can break out and become a respected adult actor/singer. It’s a very specific kind of over-acting and over-produced singing, and it doesn’t really translate to the mainstream showbiz world. I wonder how she’ll do in her sitcom – that’ll be the true test for her.

  30. SkinnyFatHunnam says:

    Oh please honey, you’re not exactly a household name.