Hilary Duff has opened up about how getting laid off from a role when she was 11 years old completely changed her career.
Duff is a childhood icon
If you grew up in the 2000s’, you will remember Hilary Duff as a TV icon of that time.
She shot to fame when she starred in the Disney series Lizzie Maguire, and later took on roles in Hollywood movies like Cheaper by the Dozen and A Cinderella Story.
But she had gotten fired from a role
In an interview with Variety published on November 24, Duff shared how none of those central roles in her career would have come her way if she hadn’t gotten fired from a different role at 11 years old.
“I had decided that I wanted to go back to Texas and be a ‘normal kid’,” she recalled.
She reflected on that moment
“I had just gotten replaced off of a TV show because they replaced me with twins, so they could work longer hours,” the 38-year-old shared.
“And I remember being like, ‘I got fired. 11 years old and I got fired from a job.’ It was like absolutely devastating.”
Duff was ready to give up
Having lost the role, Duff was ready to give up on her dream of being an actress when she received a phone call from her manager that changed everything.
The manager revealed that Disney wanted her for an audition.
But she wasn’t prepared for it
“My manager called my mom and was like, ‘Disney wants to see Hilary for this thing,’” Duff added.
She didn’t exactly give her best audition as she was still upset about her earlier rejection. Duff said, “I walked in and I was super unprepared. It was like a monologue.”
The casting director pointed this out
Duff said that she will ‘never forget’ how the casting director Robin Lippin pointed out her low effort at the time. “She was like, ‘You’re not very prepared for this,’” the actress recalled.
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Although Duff was embarrassed, she said, “I always kind of love a challenge.”
Lippin didn’t give up on her
The casting director asked Duff to return the next day and try auditioning again, and this time she was prepared.
“I came back the next day and I was completely off book. And I had it down,” Duff recalled. She then went through multiple auditions and eventually got the lead Disney role.
