Hilary Duff "needed to be [her] own person" after the success of 'Lizzie McGuire'.
Hilary Duff was keen to move on from the comedy show
The 35-year-old actress played the titular character in the TV comedy series - but Hilary "didn't want to be Lizzie McGuire" by the end.
The actress - who played the character between 2001 and 2004 - told the 'Good Guys' podcast: "For so long people were just like 'Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie'. And still, now to this day, which it doesn't bother me anymore but it did for a while, I just desperately needed to be my own person."
Hilary subsequently turned her focus towards her music career.
The blonde beauty - who released her debut album, 'Santa Claus Lane', in 2002 - was keen to "reintroduce" herself to the world.
She said: "I think that I thought music was gonna be a good way to introduce myself, reintroduce myself, and it was."
Meanwhile, Hilary previously admitted that she "lived in a bubble" as a teenage star.
The actress shot to fame as a child - but she wanted to walk away from her career at the age of 18.
She said: "Around 18 I gave up everything. I had just finished a tour. I was in Europe, and after the last concert, I said, 'Enough'."
Asked why she felt that way, Hilary explained: "I didn’t know how to cook or start a washing machine. I didn’t even know what I liked and what I didn’t. I didn’t plan my day and I was never on my own.
"I had a fabulous career but I was no longer satisfied. My friends did normal things for that age, but I lived in a bubble and felt terrible. Not to mention the pressure I felt: I had about 200 people working for me on tours. I was responsible for their salaries. It was too much.
"I had to pull the plug to understand who I was, what I really wanted, and to learn to live alone."
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