Hilary Duff - 'I was scared to grow up'

THE FORMER TEEN IDOL TALKS ABOUT ROMANCE, MOTHERHOOD AND FINDING HER VOICE

Hilary Duff first hit the big screen in 1998 flick Casper Meets Wendy and was just 13 years old when her fame sky-rocketed in 2001 with the premiere of the Disney Channel show Lizzie McGuire. Movie roles and a successful pop career followed, but transitioning from teen idol to a respected artist proved tricky. “At the beginning, I was so scared to have a family and grow up,” says Duff, 35, who is mum to daughters Banks, 4, and Mae, 2, with husband Matthew Koma, 36, and is also mum to son Luca, 11, from her previous marriage to former professional hockey player Mike Comrie, 42.

“Almost my whole entire life, people were like, ‘You’re so great, never change. Always stay the same and never grow up.’ I was like, ‘I can’t do that. I’m a human being,’” she tells WHO. “It’s never great to feel stuck or think that your fanbase will only accept you one way.”

Thankfully, Duff’s fans have embraced her of late, particularly with her turns on TV’s Younger and How I Met Your Father, with the second instalment of the How I Met Your Mother reboot’s second season streaming on Disney+ from July 26. “I’m happy,” says Duff. “And I feel so lucky.”

Were you nervous to follow in the footsteps of one of TV’s most successful sitcoms?

I love How I Met Your Mother and at first, I was very apprehensive about the idea of making a follow-up show, but then I read the script and all of that pretty much went away. I have read a lot of bad scripts, but this was different. I just loved the character of Sophie right away and I knew that this was something I could really make my own. I was excited to get going from that point on really.