Lizzie McGuire is all grown up. Former child star Hilary Duff bares it all in a nude photo shoot for the May-June cover of Women’s Health.
“I think that, at 34, I have just gained a lot of respect for my body,” she said. “It’s taken me all the places I need to go. It’s helped me build a beautiful family. I feel like the older I get, the more confident I get in my own skin . . . I’m really just fascinated by 1: being a woman. And 2: all the changes that your body can go through throughout your lifetime.”
Duff first rose to prominence as a teen idol in “Lizzie McGuire” (a television series that aired from 2001 to 2004, as well as a 2003 movie). She later moved on to star in rom-coms and family-friendly fare such as the “Cheaper by the Dozen” films and “A Cinderella Story,” not to mention a music career and a much-publicized tween love triangle with rapper Aaron Carter and actress Lindsay Lohan. While Lohan and other stars of that era were painted as wild in the media, Duff’s public image was more down to earth.
“It was a conscious choice not to be angsty and try to shift people’s opinions on who I am. That doesn’t mean I didn’t want to try!” she told Women’s Health. “It would be dumb of me to not know that I have a sweet spot playing that relatable girl. I am that girl.”
She confessed that she struggled with an eating disorder when she was 17. “Because of my career path, I can’t help but be like, ‘I am on camera and actresses are skinny,’ ” she said. But after having three kids and getting another tattoo (ink on her neck that says “mother,” in addition to roses and swallows on her arms), she’s in a better place with her body, she said.
She attempted to resurrect “Lizzie McGuire” in a series for Disney+, about an adult version of the character, but it was axed in December 2020 due to creative differences. Duff previously wrote an Instagram post begging Disney to air the revival on Hulu, writing, “I’d be doing a disservice to everyone by limiting the realities of a 30-year-old’s journey to live under the ceiling of a PG rating.”
She further elaborated: “She had to be 30 years old doing 30-year-old things. She didn’t need to be doing bong rips and having one-night stands all the time, but it had to be authentic. I think they got spooked.”
Today, she stars in the “How I Met Your Mother” spinoff series, “How I Met Your Father,” on Hulu. She has a 10-year-old son, Luca, with her ex-husband, NHL star Mike Comrie, and she also has two daughters, 3-year-old Banks and 1-year-old Mae, with her current hubby, singer-songwriter Matthew Koma, who she’s been married to since 2019.
“I’m proud of my body,” she said. “I’m proud that it’s produced three children for me. I’ve gotten to a place of being peaceful with the changes my body has gone through. I also want people to know a makeup artist was there putting glow all over my body and someone put me in the most flattering position.”