Frankie Muniz Reveals 22-Year Feud with Hilary Duff, Sparked by Her Mom

Frankie Muniz has gotten candid about his secret 22-year feud with Hilary Duff – which had initially been sparked up by the actress’s mom. 

The 39-year-old actor – who is taking part in the upcoming Malcolm In The Middle reboot – opened up about his early friendship with Duff on The Joe Vulpis podcast and why he hasn’t talked to her in over two decades. 

The pair formerly starred in the 2003 film Agent Cody Banks – and Muniz talked about how Duff’s ‘intense’ mom Susan had a role in her daughter’s casting in the project. 

Early on in their acting careers, both Muniz and Duff became close pals and he also appeared in one episode of her Disney series Lizzy McGuire back in 2002.

While in a dressing room on set of the show, the race car driver crossed paths with Duff’s mom who was ‘the epitome of a stage mom.’ 

‘She was intense. Hilary was so cool, we had an awesome relationship, but her mom was super intense.’ 

Daily Mail has reached to Duff’s representatives for comment but did not immediately hear back. 

He then revealed to the podcast host, ‘I’ve actually never told this story, and I might get in trouble for it, but I don’t care. I’m 40.’ 

Muniz explained that he and Susan had a discussion about what he had planned for the summer at the time, to which he explained he would be tackling a lead role in Agent Cody Banks. 

‘And she’s like, “Is there a girl that could be Hilary, that would be good for Hilary?” And I was like, “Yeah, but I don’t know.”‘

According to his contract, Muniz was able to give input into who could play the lead female role of Natalie Connors – but he did not relay that information to Duff’s mom. 

Kristin Kreuk – who is known for her roles in shows such as Smallville and Reacher – had been considered to potentially portray the character. 

The next day following his conversation with Susan, they once again crossed paths on set of Lizzy McGuire inside Duff’s dressing room. 

‘The next morning I show up to the set, I go into her dressing room to hang out, and her mom’s like, “Guess what? We’re gonna be spending the summer together!” She was like, “We’re gonna be up in Vancouver together!”‘

Muniz had assumed at first that Duff would be working on a separate project in the area. 

‘I’m like, “Oh, what’s Hilary filming? Is she filming a movie up there too? That’s awesome! We’ll get to hang out, we’ll have dinners.” She goes, “No, she’s doing Cody Banks with you.”‘ 

Muniz had been confused and added, ‘She’s like, “No, yeah, yeah, she is. They signed the contract last night.”

‘And I’m like, “The movie you knew nothing about yesterday, you signed – how – it’s not possible! It’s not humanly possible.”‘ 

Since he had input on who would be cast as Natalie Connors, Muniz reached out to his agents to ask how Duff had been cast in the role. 

‘Supposedly, calls were made, and they knew that Hilary and I were really close, and I was filming her show, so they just assumed it was fine,’ he said.

‘So needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled about it. And not because I didn’t want it to be Hilary. Just because they went around me.’ 

While shooting the 2003 movie, the actor admitted to being ‘very sad’ when Duff’s mom would visit the set. 

Muniz added, ‘I’ve never talked to Hilary since the last day of filming. I’ve not said one word to her since then. So that’s the truth that no one knows about.’ 

However, he told the podcast host that he does have ‘regrets’ over not keeping up with his friendship with the former Disney channel actress and that he ‘would love to catch up with her.’ 

He explained, ‘We were friends. We had a great friendship for such a long time. And I let her mom – it pissed me off.’ 

Following Muniz’s comments on last month’s podcast episode, a source told Daily Mail that Duff is open to having a conversation with her former co-star ‘about their friendship fallout.’ 

The insider added that she would ‘like to show her kids all her old stuff and if her kids ever got a liking to watching Agent Cody Banks, she’d love for Frankie to be available to share with her kids memories from her times not only on that set but everything else she did with him and all the other work she did when she was younger. 

‘Now growing up, being a mom, especially after Aaron Carter’s passing, Hilary has wanted to med past issues and relationships and just move into her future with no regrets.’

The source said that Hilary would want a call or meeting with Muniz to ‘happen organically’ and ‘just establish a new connection and if it led to being friends again, that would be nice. No worries if it doesn’t happen, but it would be nice.’

After Muniz and Duff starred in Agent Cody Banks, the actress went on to appear in a number of other projects such as A Cinderella Story (2004), Younger (2015-2021) and most recently How I Met Your Father (2022-2023). 

Muniz put his full-time acting career on hold to pursue his passion for professional race car driving. 

However, he is set to step back in front of the camera for a Malcolm In The Middle reboot – and will reunite with former castmates such as Bryan Cranston, Justin Berfield and Christopher Masterson. 

Muniz will reprise his role of Malcolm in the four-episode Disney+ series. 

Late last week, the actor uploaded a photo with both Berfield and Masterson as they posed for a memorable snap together.

‘I was told not to post this yet, but then I remembered the theme song,’ he penned in the caption, referencing to the song Boss Of Me that would play at the start of the episodes. 

‘I’m just too excited for y’all to see the new episodes and I miss my brothers,’ he added. 

The beloved sitcom ran for a total of seven seasons from 2000 through 2006 – and garnered seven Emmy wins during its time on the air.