Hilary Duff rose to fame at a young age as a child star after the success of her show Lizzie McGuire, then got her start in music and became one of the notable pop culture presences of the 2010s.
The 38-year-old recently made her return to the music industry on her own terms, after taking more than a decade to focus on her personal life and starting a family, and she can now retrospectively recognize the challenges she faced then.
THE Mature the hitmaker was honored at TIME100 gala as one of the most influential personalities of the year, and during the TIME100 Summit, Duff reflected on his return to his times through documentaries like Quiet on set: The dark side of children’s television And Framing Britney Spears.
“It was such a long time ago, but it’s an out-of-body experience. I think I feel really sad when I watch a lot of these documentaries for obvious reasons,” said the Roommates admitted the singer.
The documentaries she mentioned focus on the behind-the-screen struggles and exploitation of child stars who were growing up at the same time as Duff.
Speaking about the negative experiences of her fellow artists at the time, the Metamorphosis The singer shared that she felt “very grateful that I wasn’t put in too many positions that left me with battle wounds.”
Duff continued: “I’ve been working an adult job since I was 9. I had a very different upbringing, a lot of failed experiences, but also a lot of incredible [ones].”
Despite her gratitude for being protected by the dark realities of the entertainment industry, Duff acknowledged that she learned to work like an adult even when she was a teenager. “I had to be able to hold my own in a room full of adults all the time, and I had to present myself and be professional. If I got burned out or sick or whatever, just keep working.”
