Hilary Duff addresses 'complicated' family dynamic amid rumored rift with dad and sister
Hilary Duff addresses 'complicated' family dynamic amid rumored rift with dad and sister
Ryan ColemanWed, February 18, 2026 at 4:03 AM UTC
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Haylie and Hilary Duff in 2017
Rich Polk/Getty
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Hilary Duff made a rare comment on her complicated relationships with sister Haylie Duff and dad Robert Duff.
"Just because you’re born into a family doesn't mean that it always stays together," Hilary told Glamour on Tuesday.
Several songs on Hilary's upcoming album Luck... or Something are rumored to concern her family.
Hilary Duff is speaking out on her strained family dynamic.
The Disney Channel idol–turned–pop star–turned–actress is gearing up for her grand return to music with the release of her forthcoming sixth studio album, Luck... or Something. Fans have been abuzz with speculation over the lyrics of several songs seeming to tease out Duff's complicated relationships with her father and sister, Robert and Haylie Duff.
Hilary confirmed her tense family dynamic in a conversation with Glamour on Tuesday, explaining, "That's my family. Those are the people that affect you the most, take up the most space naturally as a human who's born into something." But she was quick to note that "just because you’re born into a family doesn't mean that it always stays together."
Hilary Duff with parents Robert and Susan Duff in 2003
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
Now 38 and looking back on the career that started in tandem with Haylie when they were just teens, Hilary reflected, "You can only control your side and your street."
She elaborated, "I've had a very complicated life, and my parents had a very complicated thing. I know it's not rare, and I think it goes back to the theme of, 'Why share now?' I guess I just felt ready."
There are two particular songs on Luck... or Something that listeners have pointed to as telling a larger story about Hilary's family life.
On the rumored Haylie-inspired track "We Don't Talk," which Lizzie McGuire has been performing live on the road for during her Small Rooms, Big Nerves Tour, Hilary sings, "'Cause we come from the same home, the same blood / A different combination, but the same mom / People ask me how you're doing, I wanna say amazing / But the truth is that I don't know."
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"The Optimist," meanwhile, concerns Hilary's relationship with Robert, as she sings, "I wish I could sleep on planes and that my father would really love me."
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Robert and Susan Duff, Hilary and Haylie's parents, divorced in 2008 after 20 years of marriage. That same year, Robert was ordered to spend 10 days in jail for contempt of court during a trial to determine if he violated an injunction against selling family assets without the court's approval.
"I was unfaithful to our marriage. I feel very badly about that and the effect it had on the girls," Robert shared in an interview on Inside Edition later that year.
Hilary and Haylie used to share a close relationship, even collaborating on films like Material Girls and songs like their cover of The Go-Go's "Our Lips Are Sealed." But the pair haven't been photographed together in years, and Haylie stirred up rumors when she liked an Instagram post sharing fellow Disney star Ashley Tisdale's viral essay about splitting from a "toxic mom group" to which Duff is said to belong.
Only a few songs from Luck... or Something have been released so far. The rest of the album drops on Feb. 20.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
