Hilary Duff (Houston, United States, 34 years old) has literally and metaphorically stripped naked for Women’s Health magazine. The How I Met Your Father actress has opened up about the complicated relationship she has had with her body over the years. She did it last May in the US version of the magazine and she’s done it again now for her Australian edition. In the latter, Duff has admitted that “horrible” pressure from her to be a certain size as a teenager led her to deal with an eating disorder at age 17. She now, she assures her, has reached a point where she fully accepts her body, regardless of whether or not she meets Hollywood standards.
Hilary Duff rose to fame at the age of 14, when the Disney Chanel series Lizzie McGuire (2001-2004) began to air. Despite having only two seasons and one movie, the fiction achieved global fame and made its protagonist a teen idol. So much so that today, 20 years later, a new season is being prepared. At the same time, and always linked to the Disney universe, Duff launched a successful musical career.
It was during this time, the star explains, that he began to become obsessed with his body. “Because of my career, I couldn’t help but think, ‘I’m in front of the cameras and the actresses are skinny.’ It was horrible, ”she explained to the magazine.
The actress has returned to the spotlight in recent months thanks to the sitcom How I Met Your Father (available in Spain on Disney+). But as she explains, she now knows how to deal with media attention with greater serenity and has developed a new relationship with her body. “I think the older I get, the more confident I am. My body has been in many different shapes and sizes, and I am fascinated, first and foremost, by being a woman. And also all the changes that your body can undergo throughout life ”, she explained.
Duff has given this interview to a magazine specialized in sports and physical well-being. Accompanying her statements are photos of the actress naked (in the American version) and in a swimsuit (in the Australian version) with a body that perfectly fits Hollywood standards. Her profile is completed with statements from her personal trainer praising her performance in the sport. “I value my health, I do activities that make me feel strong instead of just improving the exterior,” explains the actress in the magazine. “I spend time with people who make me feel good and who share similar views on health and body positivity, get enough sleep, and eat a balanced diet.”
Thus, the story Hilary Duff tells in the magazine is not so much one of someone who has given up trying to fit the standards of a normative body, but rather one of someone who has put an eating disorder behind her. She still takes care of herself, she explains, but she’s not obsessed like she was as a teenager. “I think that at 34 years old I have gained a lot of respect for my body. It has taken me everywhere I needed to go. It has helped me build a beautiful family”, explains the actress. Duff has three children. The first, nine-year-old Luca, was the result of her first marriage to former ice hockey player Mike Comrie, from whom she separated in 2014. The next two, Violet, three, and Mae Mae, one, had them with her current husband, musician Matthew Koma, whom she married two years ago. “I love this chaos,” he told People magazine a few months ago about his large family. “Even if I have help, because I work a lot and have babysitters, sometimes it’s never enough. And the kids always want their mom, it seems like I’m the only one in the room.”