Hilary Duff may have grown up in the spotlight and made it out virtually unscathed, but she feels for the next generation of starlets. According to the actress, who found fame as the titular character on Lizzie McGuire, she genuinely sympathizes with Disney Channel alums that came after her — particularly one named Selena Gomez.
“I think it’s hard. I just feel for them,” Duff tells Sirius XM’sJustJenny. “When I was just coming on to the scene was when all the gossip stuff started, but now it’s at such an extreme level. And there’s just such a focus on personal life. It must be a really tough struggle.”
When asked about Gomez, who’s currently taking a professional hiatus to focus on her mental and physical health as she battles lupus, Duff only has kind words for her fellow former child star.
“I think the saving grace is that she makes great music and so people love her,” she says. “People read [the gossip] and it falls out of their heads so fast now. The public is smart [about] gossip magazines and that they’re just trying to make money. I’m sure people gossip about it with their friends for a second, but at the end of the day, they love those people and they love their music.”
