Hilary Duff has revealed that she didn’t receive a traditional education while growing up, but feels satisfied that she educated herself on “different things I was interested in”.
Appearing on the Table Manners podcast, cohosted by singer Jessie Ware and her mother Lennie, Duff talked about being homeschooled and jokingly described it as “zero education”.
Duff rose to fame as one of the defining child stars of the early 2000s after landing the title role in the Disney Channel sitcom Lizzie McGuire, which she starred in from 2001 to 2004. She started out with small roles in commercials and direct-to-video projects in the late 1990s, and moved into music in 2003 with her debut album Metamorphosis, which topped the Billboard 200.
The 38-year-old revealed that she was “barely” homeschooled, but received her GED because her mother asked her to.
A GED, short for General Educational Development, is a US qualification equivalent to a high school diploma, earned by passing a series of standardised exams.
However, despite the lack of a traditional school education, Duff said she knows “a lot about a lot of things”.
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When asked if she regretted not having the opportunity to receive more of an education, the Cinderella Story star said she didn’t.
“I’m happy and I feel like I educated myself on my own, of different things I was interested in, like reading. I love to read. I don’t have as much time as I would like to read, but I really enjoy reading,” she said.
“I think I’m past the window of caring that my education wasn’t great, because I feel like I’ve got strengths in other areas and it kind of helps. And I’m not shy to ask a question about something.
“I know that my life was different than most and like I don’t need to be embarrassed that I don’t know when a certain war took place. Like there’s Google for that and ChatGPT.”
Duff added that not knowing certain things has helped her connect with her teenage son, Luca, who she shares with former husband Mike Comrie. Duff has three other children with husband Matthew Koma.
“Honestly, something that’s been so cool is connecting to my kid and having him teach me stuff that I didn’t know about because he is getting a really great education,” she said.
Hilary Duff and Matthew Koma at Apple Music Studios in LA (Getty Images for Apple Music)
“We are like a very routine-based family and I just notice my kids do so much better,” she added, explaining that Koma is at home with them while she is on tour for her recently released album, Luck…or Something.
“I desperately don’t want my life to become like this big looming shadow over how they have to live their life. It’s one of my biggest fears about going on tour and being so much more forward facing, because they’re the stars of our household.”
Duff recently talked about growing up in the spotlight after rising to fame on Disney Channel in the early 2000s.
“I didn’t necessarily choose that part, but it’s my reality, and so it was honestly like healing to say,” she continued. “It’s hard to watch your life unfold on the internet sometimes with talking heads on TikTok speculating this, that, and the other.”
Luck…or Something is Duff’s first album in more than 10 years, and has sparked excitement among fans eagerly waiting for her highly anticipated return to music.