Hilary Duff's Biggest Feuds & Rumored Enemies In Hollywood

In the early 2000s, actress Hilary Duff became the prototypical Disney Channel star, winning over teens and tweens everywhere as the titular heroine of the sitcom "Lizzie McGuire." Sixty-five episodes of the show were produced from 2001 to 2004, in addition to a feature film, "The Lizzie McGuire Movie," which grossed over $55 million against a reported budget of $17 million, per Box Office Mojo. Along the way, Duff inspired the next wave of Disney stars.

That includes Miley Cyrus, who confessed to Duff on the former's Instagram Live talk show in 2020 (via Seventeen), that the only reason she wanted her "Hannah Montana" role "was so I could do whatever you did. And, so, really, I don't think I gave a s**t about being an actress or a singer. I just wanted to copy you no matter what."

Duff's talents extended well beyond the Disney realm, too, as she also created hit songs and starred in films like "Agent Cody Banks" and "A Cinderella Story," among others. However, not all of her show business relationships have been as positive as hers with Cyrus. Despite managing to avoid the kind of controversial moments that define some child stars, Duff's rise to stardom has included some documented, and perceived, feuds and celebrity beefs, some of which were downright nasty. With that in mind, here's a list of Hilary Duff's biggest feuds and rumored enemies in Hollywood.

Hilary Duff's longtime feud with "Freaky Friday" star and fellow millennial it-girl Lindsay Lohan was widely reported, and recently confirmed by Duff herself. The drama between the two stems from a love triangle — after guest-starring on "Lizzie McGuire" in 2001, pop star Aaron Carter dated Duff for a time before deciding that Lohan was more his speed. In 2005, he said in an interview with "The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch," "I was dating [Duff] for like a year and a half, and then I just got a little bored, so I went and I started getting to know Lindsay, dating Lindsay."

Duff and Carter got back together briefly before splitting again in 2003. Afterward, she and Lohan began crashing each other's movie premieres out of spite. In the meantime, reports of Lohan trash-talking Duff to their mutual co-star, Chad Michael Murray, emerged. Lohan prodded Duff publicly during appearances on "Saturday Night Live" and "Total Request Live," too. The bizarre back-and-forth continued on for a few more years, and included incidents like Good Charlotte's Joel Madden — who was dating Duff at the time — refusing to give an autograph to Lohan's brother.

The young stars finally squashed their feud in 2007. Nearly two decades later, Duff confirmed some of the lore surrounding their beef. "I mean, that was, like, my childhood nemesis," Duff said during a 2026 "Call Her Daddy" appearance. "I'm sure my publicist will be like, 'What the f**k are you doing?' But now it's so many years later. Like, who cares? It does not matter."

The most recent of Hilary Duff's rumored beefs made headlines in late 2025/early 2026, when "High School Musical" star Ashley Tisdale (now Ashley French) slammed her celebrity mom group, of which Duff is reportedly a member. The kerfuffle was kicked off when Tisdale penned a blog post titled "You're Allowed to Leave Your Mom Group" on her website. She went into greater detail weeks later, though, describing a series of perceived sleights and mean girl behavior at the hands of her "toxic" mom group in a 2026 essay published by The Cut.

"I remember being left out of a couple of group hangs, and I knew about them because Instagram made sure it fed me every single photo and Instagram Story. Another time, at one of the mom's dinner parties, I realized where I sat with her," Tisdale wrote. And while there's no telling exactly who she's referring to, Duff joins Meghan Trainor and other show-business types as members of the group. Meanwhile, it was the "So Yesterday" singer's husband, Matthew Koma, who issued the strongest response to Tisdale's essay.

As reported by People, Koma took to Instagram in the days after the essay was posted, sharing a photo of himself with The Cut's logo added to it and the headline, "When You're The Most Self Obsessed Tone Deaf Person On Earth, Other Moms Tend To Shift Focus To Their Actual Toddlers," along with a sub-headline reading, "A Mom Group Tell All Through A Father's Eyes."

Right around the time that Hilary Duff's feud with Lindsay Lohan was picking up steam, the "Cheaper by the Dozen" star also ran afoul of pop-punk singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne. As chronicled by Paper, Duff took exception to comments made by Lavigne in relation to her own fans, telling WENN in 2004, "I think some of the things Avril said about her fans were kind of mean-spirited. She said that she was p****d off at her fans for copying her style. I was like, 'You should be happy that these people like you and look up to you!'" Lavigne fired back (via Newsweek), denying that she ever made such a statement and calling Duff a "goody-goody" and a "mommy's girl."

Those statements would prove to be the opening salvos in a back and forth that went multiple rounds. However, it was Lavigne who adopted an offensive posture, slamming Duff for using a songwriting team to make her music (even though Lavigne worked with the same team for her debut album), then hit her again on the Boston-based radio station MIX 98.5 (via Paper), saying, "Who are you to talk about me? You should know better. Don't talk trash with me, you can go screw yourself." Duff's reps responded that she was sorry, and that she was a fan of Lavigne, but the beef continued nonetheless.

The two would avoid each other at events like the MuchMusic Awards and, years later, at the Maxim Hot 100 Party. At one point, Duff admitted to Time that she "said something I shouldn't have said." Eventually, the two just stopped commenting on each other altogether. Whether they ever actually buried the hatchet, though, is anyone's guess.

As with the Lindsay Lohan situation, Hilary Duff's rumored feud with Nicole Richie can be traced back to a love triangle (or, perhaps more accurately, a former boyfriend). From 2004 to 2006, Duff famously dated Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden, who was about nine years older than the Disney alum. Madden later got into a relationship with Nicole Richie, who he went on to marry in 2010. Before they tied the knot, though, the fashion designer and former reality star reportedly made a joke of her man's past relationship with Duff.

As relayed by X17 in 2007, a source told Us Weekly that Richie liked to tease Madden about Duff, asking him "if he's going to watch 'Lizzie McGuire' DVDs or listen to Hilary's albums." According to the source, Madden's response to her commentary was that it was "out of line." Meanwhile, Duff — and her sister, Haylie Duff – reportedly beefed with Richie's "The Simple Life" BFF, Paris Hilton, in the early 2000s, too.

Fast-forward to 2026, and it looks as though cooler heads have prevailed. Hilary's song "Mature" from her comeback album "Luck... or Something" is believed to be about her relationship with Madden; and Richie has seemingly given it her stamp of approval. "'Mature' is not the word I would use to describe us," Nicole wrote in an Instagram story (via The New York Post), while tagging Hilary, "but regardless, this song is a BOP."

Once upon a time, the Duff sisters were seemingly in lockstep, as both Hilary and Haylie set out to become Hollywood stars. They even embarked on the endeavor together at various junctures, sharing top billing in the 2006 teen comedy "Material Girls" and recording multiple songs together, including their popular 2004 cover of The Go-Go's hit, "Our Lips Are Sealed." The two have apparently drifted over the years, though.

As of this writing, it has been more than six years since the sisters appeared publicly together, according to E! News. It's an eye-catching development given their shared family history and journey through show business. In 2015, Hilary even swelled with pride over her older sister becoming a new parent (alongside partner Matt Rosenberg), telling E! News, "She's really a natural mom."

More recently, Hilary appeared to sing about her strained sisterhood and a desire to reconcile in the song "We Don't Talk." The song includes lyrics like, "We come from the same home, the same blood," "We don't talk; talk about it. We don't talk about anything anymore," and "People ask me if I've seen you. And honestly, I hate it. 'Cause the truth is that I need to."

Hilary Duff's complicated family dynamics extend beyond her seemingly strained relationship with her sister Haylie. The "Cadet Kelly" star also has a less-than-perfect relationship with her father, Robert Duff. As with Haylie, the Duff patriarch received a mention in one of Hilary's songs. Specifically, the track "The Optimist," which includes the lyric "I wish I could sleep on planes, and that my father would really love me." When asked about writing/singing about her family for a Glamour cover story, Hilary explained the decision to fill the outside world in on the situation.

"Just because you're born into a family doesn't mean that it always stays together. You can only control your side and your street," she told the outlet. "I've had a very complicated life, and my parents had a very complicated thing. I know it's not rare, and I think it goes back to the theme of, 'Why share now?' I guess I just felt ready."

Robert and the girls' mother, Susan Duff, were divorced in 2008. The former later spent 10 days in a Texas jail after a judge found that he had sold off family assets without obtaining court approval. Robert later confessed to Inside Edition that he was "unfaithful to our marriage," adding, "Susan was very consumed with the girls' careers... We simply grew apart." At the time, Robert expressed hope that he could patch up his relationship with his daughters.

Perhaps the strangest of Hilary Duff's confirmed and rumored beefs was her war of words with a veritable Hollywood icon in Oscar-winner Faye Dunaway — a '70s movie star with dark secrets. The Duff-Dunaway feud traces back to 2008 when the former was cast to play the infamous bank robber Bonnie Parker in a remake of the 1967 classic film "Bonnie & Clyde." Of course, that's the same movie that helped make Dunaway a household name when she originated the role beside Warren Beatty's Clyde Barrow.

Amid the news of Duff's casting, Allure did a photo shoot with Duff dressed up as Parker, and she did sport an uncanny resemblance to Dunaway in the character's iconic garb, per YouTube. However, when the Oscar winner was asked about the remake and Duff's casting, she reportedly bristled (via TV Guide), "Couldn't they at least cast a real actress?" While that was a shot across the bow, Duff went full-on nuclear in response. "I think that my fans that are going to go see the movie don't even know who she is," she told E! Online. "I think it was a little unnecessary, but I might be mad if I looked like that now, too."

Duff also defended herself during an appearance on "The Bonnie Hunt Show." In the end, however, the Duff-led "Bonnie & Clyde" remake never came to fruition.

When one thinks back to the Disney Channel stars of the late '90s and early/mid-2000s, it's probably safe to say that a very specific group of performers comes to mind. Although she has undergone an incredible transformation since her "Lizzie McGuire" days, Hilary Duff is definitely one of those names (and maybe even the first). So, too, are Miley Cyrus, Lee Thompson Young, Raven-Symoné, Shia LaBeouf, and Christy Carlson Romano, among others. In an alternate timeline, we may have even had a Y2K-era Disney power couple in Duff and LaBeouf, had the stars just hit it off. In the end, though, the stars never made it past their first date.

Speaking with the now-defunct Details magazine, LaBeouf shared several stories about his early career, including a sushi dinner with Duff that was apparently marked for misfortune. According to the "Transformers" star, it was "probably the worst date either of us has ever had." Whether or not that qualifies as an actual beef is a matter of opinion. But given LaBeouf's penchant for controversy and rocky relationships, one can't help but wonder what exactly transpired between them.

Before marrying Matthew Koma in 2019, Hilary Duff was in a six-year marriage to former NHL player Mike Comrie, putting her in exclusive company as a star performer who was also wed to a standout athlete. However, she's not the only 2000s it-girl with blonde hair who either is, or was, in a relationship with a pro hockey player. The same could be said for pop-country singer and "American Idol" alum Carrie Underwood, who has been with retired NHLer Mike Fisher for the better part of two decades. Not only that, but Duff's ex and Underwood's husband were once teammates on the Ottawa Senators.

Despite that shared experience and their other similarities, there have been rumblings that Duff ignored Underwood at hockey games they both attended. To that end, a 2025 Threads post that went viral after Underwood's performance at Donald Trump's second inauguration read, "Remember when Hilary Duff refused to sit with or acknowledge/interact with Carrie Underwood when their men both played for the same hockey team and there were unaddressed rumors for months that they hated each other...? Hilary always stays winning."

While that may be conjecture, Duff did comment when Underwood's husband was traded to the Nashville Predators in 2011, telling reporters (via Today), "I'm a little envious of her right now because he just got traded to Nashville ... Like, 'Really?' I'm like, 'Come on! I'll take San Jose, I'll take any place closer than Pittsburgh!"

Although he wasn't a member of the Disney Channel stable, Frankie Muniz will always be associated with Hilary Duff on some level due to their shared status as Y2K-era child stars. Moreover, Muniz actually guest starred as himself during Season 2 of "Lizzie McGuire," a casting that came as a result of his relationship with Duff. "We had a really, great relationship for a long time," Muniz explained on "The Joe Vulpis Podcast" in 2025. Fast-forward to now, though, and Muniz revealed to Vulpis that he hasn't spoken to her in more than two decades, and the reason reportedly has a lot more to do with Duff's mom, Susan, than her.

As recounted by Muniz on the podcast, he was chatting with Susan Duff while shooting his "Lizzie McGuire" spot when he told her about his upcoming film "Agent Cody Banks." Susan reportedly inquired about a role for Hilary, and while Muniz said that he didn't outright nix the idea, he was more keen to champion "Smallville" star Kristin Kreuk as his co-star. Despite that, and the fact that he was supposed to have a level of approval on casting, the Duffs allegedly secured a deal for Hilary to join the project that night.

"Supposedly, calls were made and they knew that Hilary and I were really close, and I was filming her show. So they just assumed it was fine," Muniz said. "So, needless to say, I wasn't thrilled about it. And
not because I didn't want it to be Hilary, just because they went around me." Muniz noted that the "Cody Banks" shoot was somewhat awkward afterward, and that it made him "sad" when Susan would visit the set. Nevertheless, he added that he wishes he had remained friends with Hilary.