The Only Recap Of Hilary Duff's Downfall You Need

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Hilary Duff's acting career began when she was cast as an extra in the 1997 series "True Women." Duff went on to appear on other shows and movies, including "The Soul Collector" and "Chicago Hope," before coming into the spotlight as Disney's teenage sensation Lizzie McGuire. At the height of her career, Duff had a staunch fanbase that knew a ton of things about her, but they made it difficult for the actor to lead a normal life. "I remember meeting friends at the mall the day the show came out, and being mobbed by people," the actor recalled in an interview with Bustle. "Someone who worked at the mall stuffed me in the closet and said, 'You need to call your mom.'"

Playing Lizzie McGuire earned Duff several award nominations as the favorite television actress at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, and although she didn't take any blimps home, "Lizzie McGuire," the show, had several awards under its belt, including a Kids' Choice Award as a favorite television show. The show's success continued well into the box office since a 2003 film titled "The Lizzie McGuire Movie" impressively recorded a $42 million gross within a few months of its release.

Sadly, when "Lizzie McGuire" came to an end after two seasons, so did Duff's once glamorous and promising career. The actor went from setting trends to thriving as a singer — which worked for a while — but the more she pushed herself away from the "Lizzie McGuire" stereotype, the less she got closer to as big a high. Nowadays, Duff's brand is a shadow of its former self. Here's how things have panned out so far.

The two-season run of "Lizzie McGuire" came to a close in February 2004. Afterward, Hilary Duff struggled to land another leading role with a major network. Nevertheless, her future appeared to be promising when she signed a deal with CBS for a comedy pilot with a make similar to the Golden Globe-nominated show "Family Ties" in November 2003. According to reports, the then-16-year-old's mother, Susan Duff, was set to be an executive producer on the unnamed show, but ultimately, it failed to see the light of day.

Similarly, in November 2008, it was reported that Duff would star in an untitled show as part of a deal with NBC. Under the year-long agreement, Duff was also meant to appear as a guest on several NBC shows. Sadly, the entire agreement didn't seem to materialize because the following year, Duff only made a single appearance on an episode of NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." She then landed a mini recurring role on "Gossip Girl," which has affiliations with The CW Network.

That same year, Duff played a leading role in the 2009 drama-comedy film "What Goes Up," in which she portrayed Lucy Diamond, and was also the star of the Nancy Bardawil-directed movie, "According to Greta," which had a short run in theaters. Duff's next successful role on television — which she landed 11 years after "Lizzie McGuire" ended — was that of Kelsey Peters on the TV Land show "Younger." 

Hilary Duff launched her music career in 2002 with the release of her debut studio album, "Santa Claus Lane." The project featured collaborations with other artists and was part of the family comedy movie, "The Santa Clause 2." The following year, Duff dropped her debut pop album, "Metamorphosis," which was well-received by the public. It premiered at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and sold a staggering 3.7 million copies.

Duff's subsequent albums were also big hits. Her self-titled album had sold 1.5 million copies as of June 2005, while "Most Wanted," her fourth body of work, triumphed over big artists like Mariah Carey to record 101,000 copies in the final week of August 2005. Although Duff was a successful commercial artist, she wasn't happy with the creative aspects of her music.

"When you are under the control of a label, you don't always get to have the sound you like," Duff disclosed in a 2005 interview with music critic Jim DeRogatis. "If I could change it, I would, and it would sound [less pop]. My name is Hilary Duff, and I don't know why I don't get to make Hilary Duff music. I just have to get the freedom to do it, and during the show, I do get to do that: I get to throw away all of the CD stuff that has been mastered and sounds really pretty, and I get to sing live."

When she was first offered the opportunity to audition for "Lizzie McGuire," Hilary Duff turned down the role. At the nudge of her mother, Duff finally gave in, and of course, the show turned out to be life-changing. Part of its success had everything to do with how Duff resonated with her character. "I think I was just playing myself," Duff remarked in her chat with Bustle. "And I really related to that girl. She was me, and I was her, and that was that."

It became hard for Duff to shake off the teen idol image after the show came to an end. In fact, "Lizzie McGuire" temporarily hurt Duff's career, since a lot of parts she got offered on television afterward fed into that stereotype. The actor, on the other hand, "wanted to challenge myself and do something unexpected," as she told The Standard Times. In light of the release of her album, "Dignity," in March 2007, Duff veered away from the child star title by rebranding on a Maxim cover.

The actor appeared on the magazine cover while sporting white lacy lingerie that teased the front strap of her bra. Additionally, she struck a sexy pose that lived up to the editorial title, "Hilary Duff! From Teen Queen to Breakout Sex Symbol." Although the move was meant to introduce her to a more mature audience, it may have taken away her core fanbase, since "Dignity" debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart and only sold 140,000 copies within the first three weeks of its release. Duff has since had more seductive magazine covers, including a steamy Women's Health magazine cover that she felt terrified of.

While some of Hilary Duff's movies have been a success, others have failed to hit the mark. Hilary's 2006 release, "Material Girls," also starring her sister, Haylie Duff, had a tough time at the box office; the comedy flick recorded over $4 million in gross revenue its opening week, which wasn't a far cry from the $5.3 million garnered by her 2005 film, "The Perfect Man." As some movies made it to the big screen and became commercially disappointing, others never made it to production at all.

In 2011, Hilary was set to play Bonnie Parker in the Tonya S. Holly-directed movie, "The Story of Bonnie & Clyde." Sadly, in May of that year, it was reported that Hilary had been dropped from the project. Although Hilary and Holly's camp alluded to working on scheduling conflicts since Hilary was pregnant at the time, the project never saw the light of day. A source close to the situation told TMZ of the flick, "Hilary won't be available until next June. If we could wait we would. Shooting is scheduled for this Fall."

Despite the split (which was said to be mutual), Hilary was reportedly paid $100,000 as part of an exit clause, even though she would have made more money had she starred in the film. But make no mistake, Hilary wasn't losing sleep over the miss. The actor later told TMZ, "I think the baby is a little bit more exciting."

Hilary Duff took a break from music after the release of her 2007 album, "Dignity." Duff's choice at the time was influenced by the fact that she had a thriving music career, yet her social life had taken a back seat. "I was so grateful, and I was having the best time, but, after about five years, I was like, 'I have no life,'" Duff shared in an interview with the "Pop Shop" podcast. "I have, like, two friends. I'm never home. I'm never with my family. I'm, like, 20 now, starting to get, like, angsty. And I just kind of needed to shut it all down."

In 2015, Duff returned to the music scene with an all-new album dubbed "Breathe In. Breathe Out," featuring songs like "Lies" and "One in a Million." While Duff was used to dominating the Billboard 200 chart back in the day, the compilation wasn't close to her past glory. The project debuted at No. 5 on the chart and only sold 32,720 copies in its opening week, despite taking the No. 3 spot on the album sales chart.

Years later, when she was celebrating the album's 10-year anniversary, Duff expressed her disappointment over its performance but maintained that at least she'd made some songs that felt original. Addressing her fans, she wrote (via Instagram), "While 'Breathe In. Breathe Out' didn't have major success, there was still some work on the record that felt authentic. I see you all blaming yourselves on TikTok, not actually your fault (but really it was), just kidding, but don't let it happen again ... next time ... okay."

As Hilary Duff dropped several albums in the 2000s, she also went on the road. Her first tour, which was dubbed the "Metamorphosis" Tour, began at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona, in November 2003 and ended in May 2004 in West Hollywood, California. Duff last hit the road on the "Dignity" Tour, whose beginning was a North American leg in Winnipeg, Canada, in July 2007. She then had performances in several countries, including Brazil and Mexico, and finally came to a stop in Melbourne, Australia, in February 2008.

After the release of the "Breath In. Breath Out" album, Duff did not announce an accompanying tour, as she had done in the past. Instead, she took a long break from the music industry. That was quite a bold move on her part since the singer was "responsible for 60 or 70 people's income [during a movie or tour]," as she told music critic Jim DeRogatis. As time went by, a section of Duff's fans asked for new music, but Duff was hesitant to get back in the game because the arena had changed. "To be honest, it's also, like, a totally new landscape," Duff said in a conversation with the "Good Guys" podcast.

Hilary Duff had a girl-next-door image that was eventually marred by a string of controversial moments. One of those times was in 2016, when Duff and her then-boyfriend, Jason Walsh, donned Native American and Indian Pilgrim costumes ahead of Halloween. The then-couple attracted criticism from social media users, one of whom wrote (via Teen Vogue), "No @HilaryDuff. Traditional dress is not a costume and you being dressed as a pilgrim proves to me how insensitive and ignorant you are."

That didn't mark the first time a celebrity had received backlash for wearing an outfit that was deemed inappropriate for Halloween. Back in 2008, model Chrissy Teigen was accused of cultural appropriation when she wore a Native American costume, just as Paris Hilton got a lot of flak when she made the same choice at a Playboy party in 2010.

Following the controversy, Duff took to X (formerly Twitter) to offer an apology, writing, "I am SO sorry to people I offended with my costume. It was not properly thought through and I am truly, from the bottom of my [heart] sorry." The public's response to her tweet was much more lenient, as many of the platform's users were of the opinion that the reaction to her costume choice was exaggerated.

Hilary Duff has been nominated for several Razzie Awards through the years. The actor's first nomination was as worst actress for her role in "A Cinderella Story," whose infamous plot hole she eventually reacted to, and it marked the beginning of Duff's unlucky streak in that category. After two other nominations for movies like "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" and "Material Girls," Duff won the not-so-flattering award in 2020 for her performance in the Daniel Farrands movie, "The Haunting of Sharon Tate."

The film was based on the life of Hollywood actor Sharon Tate, whose death, which occurred in 1969, was traced to followers of cult leader Charles Manson. The making of the film was controversial from the very beginning because it was opposed by Sharon's sister, Debra Tate. "It doesn't matter who it is acting in it — it's just tasteless," Debra told People. "It's classless how everyone is rushing to release something for the 50th anniversary of this horrific event."

In the film, Duff plays the leading role alongside main actors Jonathan Bennett and Lydia Hearst. The premise of the flick is that Tate has premonitions of her death before it occurs, in a plot twist that gives the movie a paranormal shift. Besides the poor reviews the film received upon release, it was also reportedly unsuccessful at the box office.

Even though she distanced herself from the character Lizzie McGuire, Hilary Duff agreed to reprise her role on the show's reboot, whose announcement was made by Disney in August 2019. According to reports, the reboot was set to feature the reprisal of old characters like Lizzie's best friend, Gordo (Adam Lamberg), and Sam McGuire (Robert Carradine). It would've also unveiled new faces, like actor Selena Gomez, who was disappointed upon learning that the show wouldn't proceed.

Jonathan Hurwitz, who was one of the show's writers, took to TikTok to reveal that two episodes of the remake had already been filmed. The pilot supposedly began with Lizzie living and working in New York City as an interior designer, and in the second episode, she returned home to find that Gordo was about to tie the knot. According to Hurwitz, Disney seemed uncomfortable with the script of the third episode, during which Lizzie and her childhood crush, Ethan Craft (Clayton Snyder), were to get intimate. 

Hurwitz's account differed from that of actor Jake Thomas, who portrayed Lizzie's younger brother, Matt McGuire, on the original show. Thomas told People that the cancellation was tied to the COVID-19 pandemic because "2020 happened and it was the wrong time, it was the wrong circumstances." Duff, on the other hand, seemed to back Hurwitz's version of the story by implying that the real reason the "Lizzie McGuire" reboot got pulled was due to creative differences. "I think they [Disney] [were] really trying to figure out what kind of content they want living on Disney+ ... that doesn't totally align with, like, where I see Lizzie right now," she revealed to Sirius XM.

At the time of writing, Hilary Duff has stayed away from the music scene for over a decade, as she continues to act. In a 2023 interview with Access Hollywood, the actor revealed that a comeback was on her mind, but she would have to find a way for it to fit into her life since she was "so immersed in motherhood right now." Duff has four children — Luca Cruz, whom she had with her ex-husband, Mike Comrie, in 2011, and Banks Violet, Mae James, and Townes Meadow, whom she shares with her husband, Matthew Koma.

Duff ventured into other pursuits, like publishing, and motherhood has inspired some of her work. She is a multiple-time author who has two children's books, "My Little Sweet Boy" and "My Little Brave Girl," under her belt. In the past, Duff has admitted to struggling with mom guilt when she was away working, but that doesn't mean that a comeback is impossible. "I have to do it," Duff told Access Hollywood, adding, "There's going to be something that comes over me, and just like, I have to do it. So, it's gonna happen — I just don't know when."

In May 2025, the Daily Mail got a little whisper that Duff was returning to the music scene after all. According to the outlet, Duff was hard at work in the studio with the help of her producer husband, Koma. Per the insider, she had finally found an opportune moment, and "all the stars just aligned so perfectly that it felt like now or never."