Frankie Muniz Hasn’t Spoken to Hilary Duff Since ‘Agent Cody Banks’ Because of Her Mom

Frankie Muniz is opening up about why he hasn’t spoken to his Agent Cody Banks costar Hilary Duff since they made the 2003 film.

Muniz, 39, opened up about his life as a child star in the early 2000s on the Sept. 2 episode of The Joe Vulpis Podcast. Muniz told the host, “Hilary Duff was probably one of my first friends when I moved to LA to film Malcolm [in the Middle].”

He remembered that, at the time, lots of child actors lived in a specific apartment complex in Burbank, Calif. While he told his mom he didn’t want to live there, lots of his friends did, and she often dropped him off to hang out. Those friends introduced him to Duff, 38.

“We became really, really good friends. We had a really great relationship for a long time,” he said. Lizzie McGuire premiered in 2001, a year after Malcolm in the Middle, and in 2002, Duff asked him to appear on an episode playing himself.

Then Muniz said he was going to tell a story for the first time. “I don’t know if I want to tell it, but maybe I will. It’s been a long time.”

The actor remembered, “I was on the set of Lizzie McGuire, and I was in Hilary’s dressing room and her mom was there.” He called her mom, Susan, “the epitome of a stage mom.” 

“She was intense. Hilary was so cool, we had an awesome relationship, but her mom was super intense,” he remembered. He said his mom was “the opposite” and would “hide” in the corner on set. “[She] didn’t want to be in the way.”

Muniz emphasized, “I’ve actually never told this story, and I might get in trouble for it, but I don’t care. I’m 40.” He continued, “ So her mom was like, ‘Do you know what you’re doing this summer? What are you doing this summer?’ And I go, ‘Oh, I’m filming this movie where I’m playing like a junior James Bond. It’s called Agent Cody Banks.’ ” 

Susan asked if there was “a girl” in the movie that would be good for Hilary. Muniz was noncommittal, though he knew in his contract he got to say who was going to play the role. He remembered that they had been interested in Kristin Kreuk, who was starring on Smallville, and he “really thought” the role of Cody’s love interest, Natalie Connors, would go to her. 

The “next day,” Muniz saw Susan on set again in her daughter’s dressing room. “And her mom’s like, ‘Guess what? We’re going to be spending the summer together.’ ” Muniz assumed Duff had booked another movie that was filming in Vancouver, Canada. Susan told him, “No, she’s doing Cody Banks with you… They signed the contract last night.’ ”

“The movie you knew nothing about yesterday?” Muniz remembered thinking. He called his agents, who said that “calls were made” and they knew he and Duff were close. “They just assumed it was fine,” he said. 

“Needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled about it. And not because I didn’t want it to be Hilary,” he said, but because the studio had gone around him. “I don’t know how much I want to say. I’m trying to think about it because I’ve already said way too much,” Muniz said.

Muniz said he had an “amazing time” on set filming with Angie Harmon, who played Agent Ronica Miles and became a “best friend.” “And I was very sad when Hilary’s mom would come on set,” he said.

“And if I told you I’ve never talked to Hilary since the last day of filming. I’ve not said one word to her since then. So that’s the truth of that. No one knows about my Hilary Duff story,” he said. 

He said they were “professional” on set, but there was “awkwardness” because there was a “small dating element” that “wasn’t happening anymore,” but his main issue was with her mom.

But looking back, he said, “I regret not just continuing to be friends with her because we had a great friendship for such a long time, and her mom… it pissed me off.” 

As for the future, Muniz said of Duff, “I would love to catch up with her.” He added of the Agent Cody Banks casting drama, “I would love to even talk about that because I’m sure she doesn’t know any of that happened.”

Susan and representatives for Duff did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. 

Back in 2024, Muniz opened up about why he’d never let his son Mauz become a child star. “I would never let my kid go into the business and not that I had a negative experience, because to be honest, my experience was 100% positive. But I know so many people, friends that were close to me, that had such insanely negative experiences,” he told PedestrianTV. 

“I just think it’s an ugly world in general,” he said. “I never cared about rejection, but there’s a ton of rejection.”

Muniz eventually put his acting career on hold to focus on racecar driving, but has dipped his toe back into Hollywood recently. He’s currently working on a Malcolm in the Middle revival. 

Duff, meanwhile, announced this fall that she’s working on new music since her last album released 10 years ago.