{"id":654612,"date":"2026-08-24T22:59:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T22:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/654612\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T22:59:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T22:59:10","slug":"hilary-duff-reveals-why-she-became-a-pop-star-after-lizzie-mcguire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/654612\/","title":{"rendered":"Hilary Duff Reveals Why She Became a Pop Star After ‘Lizzie McGuire’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tHilary Duff<\/a> didn\u2019t just stumble into the world of pop<\/a> stardom after becoming a Disney Channel<\/a> star. She says she actively pursued music as a way to move beyond her beloved television persona.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring a conversation with Drew Barrymore<\/a> on The Drew Barrymore Show<\/a>, Duff ruminated on the complicated experience of growing up in the public eye and being forever associated with Lizzie McGuire, the titular character she played on the Disney Channel series from 2001 to 2004.<\/p>\n

\n\tBarrymore asked Duff whether she ever consciously tried to prove herself or others that she was no longer Lizzie McGuire, particularly as she began to grow up.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think that was why I became \u2014 I wanted to be a pop star,\u201d Duff said. \u201cYou know, the second I finished filming Lizzie, I was like, \u2018Cool. I don\u2019t want to be called that anymore.\u2019 And I\u2019m going to be \u2014 I\u2019m going to make music and I\u2019m going to get a record deal and I\u2019m going to be a pop star.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnd you did,\u201d Barrymore replied.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI did,\u201d Duff said.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuff\u2019s transition from Disney star to recording artist quickly became one of the defining chapters of her early career. Her 2003 album Metamorphosis peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200<\/a>, making Duff a chart-topping pop artist while she was still in her teens. Her 2005 compilation Most Wanted also reached No. 1, and to this day, she\u2019s had seven songs hit the Billboard Hot 100<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuff says the transition wasn\u2019t necessarily as simple emotionally as it might have looked from the outside. During her conversation with Barrymore, she explained that it took her about a decade to make peace with the fact that Lizzy McGuire would remain frozen in time for audiences while she continued growing up.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s weird to play a character that people fall so in love with that doesn\u2019t grow up,\u201d Duff said. \u201cShe stays that age, and then I grew up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDuff added that she eventually became \u201cobsessed\u201d with Lizzie and learned to appreciate the character alongside the fans, but said there was a period when it was difficult to change and evolve while constantly being identified with her Disney alter ego.<\/p>\n

\n\tBarrymore, who also grew up in the spotlight, connected Duff\u2019s experience to her own childhood roles. The two discussed how audience can attach themselves to the younger versions of actors they grew up watching, even as those performers continue to age and establish identities of their own.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Duff, music became part of that evolution.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe went on to release Metamorphosis in 2003, followed by albums including Hilary Duff, Dignity and Breathe In. Breathe Out. Her latest album, luck\u2026 or something, arrived in February 2026 after more than a decade between studio albums. Billboard previously reported<\/a> that the 11-track project excitedly signaled Duff\u2019s return to music through Atlantic Records<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tMore than two decades after Lizzie McGuire premiered, Duff is starting to embrace both sides of her legacy. Her latest era incorporates her latest hits while introducing audiences to the adult artist she has become. In the Barrymore interview, she said performing now has allowed her to reconnect with the audience that grew up alongside her while also sharing new music that showcases their lives as adults.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s like I get to have these pillars of my old music, which feels so nostalgic and makes people find that kid in them again,\u201d Duff said. \u201cBut then also [I can] share my new music, which is like, introducing all of us as adults.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWatch the full interview with Duff and Barrymore below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hilary Duff didn\u2019t just stumble into the world of pop stardom after becoming a Disney Channel star. She…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[264],"tags":[12358,26236,18,117,1883,19,17,337,2624,4513],"class_list":["post-654612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-disney-channel","tag-drew-barrymore","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-genre-pop","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-music-news","tag-pop"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117152970357034709","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}