Hilary Duff has recalled how frightened she was of Jennifer Coolidge on the set of their millennial classic A Cinderella Story two decades ago.
Duff was 15 at the time of filming, and was already a nationally famous child star as the title character on the Disney Channel sitcom Lizzie McGuire.
Meanwhile Coolidge had herself already featured in such comedy classics as American Pie and Legally Blonde by the time she acted with Duff, but was still years away from her Emmy-winning turn on The White Lotus.
While Duff played a modern high school analog of Cinderella in the 2004 feature, Coolidge featured as the evil stepmother, in a scenery-chewing role.
Now it has emerged that Coolidge was so convincing while shooting her scenes that Duff felt scared and had to remind herself they were playing characters.
‘She just goes there in such a big way that it was really impressive and slightly intimidating as a teenager,’ Duff said in an interview with Variety.
Hilary Duff has recalled how frightened she was of Jennifer Coolidge on the set of their millennial classic A Cinderella Story (pictured) two decades ago
‘And she was mean to me, so it was a little scary, ’cause I was only like 15 and she was just mean to me ’cause she’s my evil stepmother,’ she recalled.
‘At the time, I was like…,’ Duff said, pulling an alarmed face and taking deep breaths. ‘I had to be like: “You’re filming a movie. You’re filming a movie.”‘
The disclosure comes after Duff pulled the curtain back on her encounters with her fellow Disney Channel child stars Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato.
During the early years of the network’s heyday, Duff, 38, shot to fame on the smash hit sitcom Lizzie McGuire in 2001 at the age of 13.
Meanwhile Gomez, 33, rose to prominence on the show Wizards of Waverly Place beginning in 2007 and Demi, 33, in the TV movie Camp Rock in 2008.
However despite having preceded them into the limelight on the Disney Channel, Duff never felt the need to take the younger actresses under her wing.
‘I can’t remember exactly but I know at some point, Selena and Demi both approached me at certain things, like years and years and years ago,’ Duff revealed on a recent episode of the podcast Therapuss with Jake Shane.
‘Then they were really lovely, and really sweet and kind, and telling me how much they love me and that kind of conversation,’ she dished.
Duff was 15 at the time of filming, and was already a child star as the title character on the Disney Channel sitcom Lizzie McGuire; pictured this September at Milan Fashion Week
Coolidge is pictured in her comeback role in The White Lotus, for which she won an Emmy Award, reinvigorating her career after a slump
‘But I was never like: “Let me show you the way,” which thank goodness, because it’s been so fun to watch all of them pave the way and watch the journey. It’s been insane. What a ride for all of the Disney people.’
She was promoting her steamy new song Mature, which she has described in a statement as ‘a little conversation that my present self is having with my younger self.’
Duff added: ‘The two of us are reflecting on a past experience and sending love to each other. It’s a chuckle, a wink and a sense of being grateful that we are sure footed in where we landed,’ via People magazine.
Although Duff never took Gomez and Lovato on as her protégées specifically, she has offered her advice in general terms to young people.
‘There’s always so much pressure to succeed and be at the top. But you might not always get it right the first time,’ she told Forbes in 2016.
‘You have to continue to be bold and put yourself out there. Even if your first job might not be your dream job,’ the Younger actress said.
‘It opens up doors to hopefully be where you want to be. Or maybe it will take you in a totally different direction that might be really good for you.’
A few years ago Duff was asked whether she would still be a child star if she were offered the chance to lead her life again, and she responded that she would.
‘She just goes there in such a big way that it was really impressive and slightly intimidating as a teenager,’ Duff said in an interview with Variety; the pair are pictured in the film
‘I wouldn’t do it all exactly the same, but I can’t look at my life and be like: “I wish this was different,” because I don’t know if it would get me to where I am right now,’ the How I Met Your Father star told Cosmopolitan.
‘I wish I had a little bit of a better education. I wish I had a little bit of a college experience,’ the mother of four confessed.
‘But what would that look like? The thing that I crave out of it wouldn’t look the way I pictured it because of who I am and how I came up,’ she added.
‘It’s weird to say “who I am to others,” but it would be hard to erase that element to have a normal experience,’ Duff reasoned.
‘I feel smart, but there’s certain things that people talk about where it literally isn’t in my brain because I didn’t experience it. I learned other things that people don’t have a clue about. But I don’t sit and harp on that.’
