Why Hilary Duff 'Didn't Want To Be Lizzie McGuire Anymore' After Breakout Show Concluded!

Turns out this wasn’t what dreams are made of!

Hilary Duff’s time on Lizzie McGuire might have been short-lived (she only appeared in two seasons and a movie), but it’s been cemented in pop culture history. We mean, we bet most people can’t hear the phrase “hey now” without thinking of her iconic hit song!

But just because she played a beloved character doesn’t mean she wanted her childhood stardom to last forever! In fact, she’s actually really happy the Disney Channel show ended when it did!

In a new episode of fellow former child star Josh Peck’s Good Guys podcast with co-host Ben Soffer out on Monday, the actress opened up about how she “really didn’t want to be Lizzie McGuire anymore, as cool as it was,” when the show ended in 2004. She explained:

“For so long people were just like ‘Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie.’ And still, now to this day, which it doesn’t bother me anymore but it did for a while, I just desperately needed to be my own person.”

This is actually why she turned to music (aside from starring in many other classic flicks), she added:

“I think that I thought music was gonna be a good way to introduce myself, reintroduce myself, and it was.”

Lizzie McGuire ran for two seasons from 2001 to 2004 with the movie airing in 2003. During that time, Hilary released her first studio album Santa Claus Lane in 2002 and started a whole new career for herself in the music scene — but it wasn’t as easy to shed her Disney alter ego as she thought, the 35-year-old reflected:

“I remember being on tour and having mothers come up to me and be like, ‘Never change! Whatever you do, just never, never, never change!’ And I would go into my dressing room after a meet-and-greet and just be like, ‘What?’ They probably didn’t mean anything by it, but could you imagine telling an 18-year-old or 17-year-old to never change?”

That’s a lot of pressure for a teenager who is no doubt going to change! Eesh.

This went on for years by the way! The Younger alum noted:

“I would say that was five years of my life, just trying to navigate becoming a person that I wanted to be outside of who everybody wanted me to be.”

Honestly, that sounds so tough! But she definitely navigated the tricky time in her life well considering she came out of child stardom fairly unscathed compared to some of her peers. Interestingly, the So Yesterday singer went on to say she does “want to” make more music after a long hiatus, sharing:

“I miss that version of myself. And I definitely think that I have more to do in that department. I just don’t know when.”

But don’t expect new tunes soon! These days when she’s not on set for How I Met Your Father, she’s busy taking care of her three children and she’s not willing to sacrifice even more time with them. Fair enough! Speaking of TV, while she was sick of Lizzie McGuire back in the day, she’s still holding out hope Disney+ might change their mind and move forward with the canceled reboot sometime in the future. As we reported, after announcing the revival series and with several months of development underway, the reboot was axed after it was deemed too mature for the Mouse House. Our fingers are still crossed!

Hear lots more from Hilary’s walk down memory lane (below)!