Hilary Duff says 'Lizzie McGuire' left her exhausted: "This isn’t fun anymore"
Hilary Duff says there was a time she felt “done” with Lizzie McGuire — yes, her own show.
Hilary Duff says the grind behind Lizzie McGuire left her wiped out by the time cameras rolled on the franchise ’s big-screen trip to Italy. Looking back in a new conversation with Paper magazine, she recalled how being addressed as her character nonstop made it hard to feel like herself.
“I was pretty done with Lizzie at that time. Everyone called me Lizzie. And then I went to Italy to film that movie, and I think I was just like, ‘I’m f****** done with you.’ I want people to see me. This isn’t fun anymore.”
The Disney Channel hit launched in 2001 and wrapped in 2004, but Duff noted just how intense those years were: she cranked out 30 episodes in one year and 35 the next—65 episodes total—on top of making The Lizzie McGuire Movie in between. The workload and the constant “Lizzie” labeling, she said, fueled the burnout.
Back to the song
After releasing her 2015 album Breathe In. Breathe Out., Duff stepped away from music for roughly a 10-year stretch. This year, she returned with a re-recording of the fan-favorite “What Dreams Are Made Of,” embracing the anthem she once felt didn’t reflect who she was offscreen. The new version appears on her (Mine) EP, a set collecting fresh takes on several of her biggest songs.
Duff said she’s now comfortable performing the track and celebrating it with fans—something that wasn’t possible when she was trying to separate Hilary from Lizzie.