Hilary Duff: No Kidding

[TMC]

https://lebeauleblog.com/2020/06/19/...ff-no-kidding/

As a teenager, Hilary Duff became the star of the top-rated Disney Channel show, Lizzie McGuire. The show lead to a recording contract, concerts and a hit spin-off movie. The Mouse House negotiated to bring Lizzie McGuire over to network television and wanted Duff to star in a sequel to the movie. But Disney wouldn’t meet the teen stars demands and Duff decided to set out on her own.

Duff’s post-Disney career was off to a strong start with the 2004 hit A Cinderella Story. Later that year, the seventeen-year-old star was hoping to build on that momentum with the musical, Raise Your Voice. To promote the movie, Duff graced the cover of the October 2004 issue of Movieline magazine.

IF YOU EVER GO TO A HILARY DUFF CONCERT and the Texas-born entertainer foregoes the traditional “Hello, Cleveland!” shout-out to your city, don’t be too surprised. “When we started this tour a few months ago, I’d always say the name of the place,” says the former Lizzie McGuire star while reclining on a sofa backstage at the Arrowhead Pond arena in Anaheim, California, a few hours before showtime. “I can’t even do that anymore. I forget what time it is, what day it is, what month it is. I love my job,” she assures, careful not to sound ungrateful. “I feel like the luckiest person in the world, but there’s definitely nights where it’s like, ‘Where am I?'”

Spend a few hours in the eye of the multi-media storm of Duff’s red-hot career, and it’s easy to see how even the luckiest person in the world could become disoriented. In addition to the concert tour, she’s got a new self-titled album coming out in a few weeks, the follow-up to her debut, Metamorphosis, which has sold close to 5 million copies worldwide. Her last movie, A Cinderella Story, grossed $50 million this past summer, and her next, the musical drama Raise Your Voice, opens this month. She’ll follow it up in ’05 with the recently wrapped romantic comedy The Perfect Man. Add to all that the demands of a clothing line (Duff Stuff) and charitable foundation (Kids with a Cause) and you’ve got the toughest schedule a 17-year-old ever had.

Duff’s pre-show look today is casual but clean–jeans, a red cowl-neck top, smoky eye makeup she applied herself, lip gloss. Still, there’s just no missing that star quality. While waiting to interview her, I hear a member of her team remark that she has 250 items on her “Things to Do” list for today. Maybe he’s exaggerating, but as I observe Duff complete one of those items–gamely posing for photos to be used on teen magazine covers–I decide that maybe he’s not. Through it all, I never see Duff be anything less than agreeable. “Becoming a mega-star at 13 would be tough on any kid, but Hilary seems to wear it really well,” observes Sean McNamara, the director of Raise Your Voice and Duff’s first, made-for-video film Casper Meets Wendy (1998). “I see Hilary as a little Sally Field. She did her Gidget days. Now she’s slowly becoming a real actress and could one day go on to win an Academy Award.”

She just might, but first, Duff has to entertain the good people of the O.C. Before the show starts, I’m invited by her genial right-hand man Troy to join the band’s nightly prayer circle–just two people down from Duff’s Perfect Man costar Heather Locklear. Troy delivers a short prayer for a safe and successful show and after amens all around, Duff thrusts her fist into the air and shouts, “Anaheim rocks!”

She remembered.