Hilary Duff Claims Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato Approached Her During the Height of Their Disney Fame

Hilary Duff says that fellow Disney Channel stars Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato reached out to her at certain points during their own early acting days — though she wasn’t necessarily a mentor to either.

Duff, 38, portrayed Lizzie McGuire on the Disney Channel show and 2003 movie, while Gomez portrayed Alex Russo in the Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place  and Lovato appeared in the Camp Rock films.

Speaking on the Therapuss podcast hosted by Jake Shane, Duff said, “I can’t remember exactly, but I know at some point Selena and Demi both approached me at certain things years and years and years ago.”

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“Then they were really lovely and really sweet and kind and telling me how much they love me and that kind of conversation. But I was never like, let me show you the way,” she added.

She continued: “Which, thank goodness because it’s been so fun to watch all of them pave their way and watch the journey. It’s been like insane. Like what a ride for all of all of the Disney people, you know?”

Duff added that, even though she was a big star due to her work on the Disney Channel, her kids aren’t quite so impressed. “Every night I put them to sleep and I’m like, ‘Let me tell you about how big I was in Disney Channel. The network I was on, it was big kids.’ No. They don’t know and they don’t care at all.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, Duff recounted some of the perils of her young stardom — like paparazzi snapping photos of what appeared to be a condom in her handbag while she was crossing the street.

“I think just because I grew up in the time of scandal and them wanting to catch you doing something. Everybody wanted to catch me doing something bad,” Duff said on the podcast.

She continued, “And I remember I was crossing the street with my friend Marco, and I was in front of Kitson, and it was when jelly bags were cool, see-through jelly bags, and a paparazzi took a picture of me and was like, ‘There’s a condom in her bag.'”

“I don’t know if it was a condom or a valet ticket,” she added. “It was a square piece of paper in my bag, and all of a sudden, I got a phone call from my mom. She was like, ‘Is there a condom in your bag? And blah, blah, blah.’ — And I just remember feeling like, ‘I’m in trouble. I’m caught. I did something bad,’ and I was just a normal age.”

Duff clarified she was “like 17 or something” at the time, adding, “I’m like, ‘I don’t know if it was a condom. I think I’m being safe.'”

Duff released her first original new music in 10 years with the single “Mature” dropping on Thursday, Nov. 6. “So happy this is finally yours to hear. Been keeping this one quiet too long,” she wrote on Instagram in announcing the new music.

Duff is married to musician Matthew Koma and the two share four children: daughters Banks Violet, Mae James, and Townes. Duff also has a son, Luca, whom she shares with ex-husband Mike Comrie.