On Tuesday on The Love Bomb podcast hosted by her “Younger” co-star Nico Tortorella, Hilary Duff got candid about falling in love at 16.
When asked about her three-year relationship with Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden, Duff said it was the first time she got it and understood what it meant to be in love. “It was so all encompassing. It was so intense. It was my life,” Duff revealed. “It was like every minute of my day. It was pretty major.”
Being in the spotlight since a young age, a lot of Duff’s relationships have been in the public eye and it came to a point that she needed a break. “I think I feel really lucky. I made a choice when I was about 19 to stop music and to stop acting,” she said. “I finished my tour and I took two years where I didn’t do anything. I didn’t mean for it to last that long, but I just wasn’t fulfilled in any way. I was just going on stage at night and I was like, ‘I don’t even know what town I’m in’… It just became so repetitive, and I was like, ‘Why am I working like this? I’m supporting all these people.’ It was just crazy,” the actress said. “Taking that break, I think, really helped me step back from the whole ‘Hilary Duff’ thing and prioritize.”
Duff married Canadian-born hockey player Mike Comrie in 2010 at the age of 22 and for her it didn’t seem that young. The two eventually got divorced, but remain friends, “But [marriage] is not a sacred thing. I wasn’t shamed because I got a divorce. It was a big step to take, and it was a lot of considering a little human, but I don’t know. Lots of people in my family are still married.”
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Although the divorce from Comrie was difficult, the two were amicable: “But we got together based on love and we separated in a very loving way. I can’t imagine going through that process with anyone but him, and he continues to be my very good friend. That’s honestly speaking from my heart. So, I think we handled it very consciously and with a lot of love. But marriage is sacred and marriage is not for everyone. Marriage is work. Marriage is really hard.”
The “Sparks” singer is currently dating fitness trainer Jason Walsh and says isn’t sure another marriage is in the cards. “I don’t feel the need to get married again,” she admitted. “As much as I was ready and excited, you’re like, ‘Oh, next step: We get married.’ That’s kind of the traditional person I’m talking about that’s inside of me, or however I was raised. But I don’t feel the need. I got to have the experience and it was awesome. So, I guess if it mattered to someone else that much, I would consider it.”
When the discussion turns to sexuality, Duff said she wishes everyone would be kinder to one another, “Nobody cares. But then the second people say ‘nobody cares,’ lots of people care. And lots of people are mean, and lots of people are keyboard gangsters and they’ll f**k your s**t up behind their computer screen and be awful.”
Tortorella ended the podcast with the question, “Do you love yourself, Hilary Duff?” She took a moment and answered, “Do I love myself? That’s a good question. I think I do. I think a have a lot of things in my life that offer me love, so I don’t feel like I have a lot of time to focus on the love that I have for myself. I feel more grateful for things in my life that create love around me, instead of like, ‘I just love that about myself.’ I’m really not that person. But I do respect myself, and I think that I’m content – for the most part – with myself. And I know that I’m a good person and that creates a good feeling, which might be love for myself. Did that make sense? Was that weird?”
