Hilary Duff on staying on track
It’s not news when you got a new bag
It’s not news when somebody slaps you
It’s not news when you’re looking your best…
Where’s your dignity?’
- lyrics from Hilary Duff’s album Dignity
Hilary Duff has reportedly put in 20 hour workdays since early adolescence, when she starred in her sitcom Lizzie McGuire (2001), followed by acting in a number of movies, developing her music career, plus new fashion and perfume lines.
In a recent article [The outsider, by Strawberry Saroyan, Telegraph/UK] she talks about not behaving like some other teen stars that get into gossip magazines and websites for hard partying, driving under the influence, and other potentially destructive behavior.
“Stumbling out of clubs completely wasted, I won’t do,” Duff said. “Because I care a lot about my career and if I make such a mockery out of myself people aren’t going to care about my projects. They’ll get enough of me when they get on the internet, you know?”
She recalls first coming to Hollywood and living in the Oakwood Apartments, a housing complex where young actors and their parents from around the country live while pursuing careers.
“There were all these people there who were really successful - up-and-coming actors who were on TV shows and stuff. But they all got into drugs and lost all their money and are nowhere now. They just fell off the face of the earth. It scared me. It made me so uninterested in drugs and experimenting.”
She is excited about John Cusack’s forthcoming political satire, “War, Inc.”, in which she plays, as she says, “a slutty, oversexed… you know, bitch” of a pop star.
According to the article, Duff says she had a blast sending up her more vacuous peers, and wants to do other movies that will move her into more meaningful roles: “I know people look at me and think I’m just so mainstream - ‘She’s just like a blonde, young girl.’ But I want to be really artistic.”
Related:
Emma Watson on being smart
Where are the teen role models?
Gifted, Talented, Addicted
Excerpts from Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood
Nurturing talent: teen/young adult
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