Hilary Duff says she was done with Lizzie McGuire by the movie

Hilary Duff told PAPER she was fed up with playing Lizzie McGuire by the time she filmed the 2003 movie in Italy. Now she sings What Dreams Are Made Of on tour, and she says it feels different.

Turns out Lizzie McGuire needed a break from Lizzie McGuire.

Hilary Duff says she was over the Disney Channel character by the time she flew to Italy to make The Lizzie McGuire Movie. She said it in a new PAPER magazine cover story, which Parade reported on Tuesday, Oct. 27, and Variety picked up on Sunday, Nov. 1.

“I was pretty done with Lizzie at that time. I had filmed 30 episodes one year and 35 episodes the next,” Duff said, per Parade.

Then she got more blunt. She described the movie shoot in Italy as the moment she was finished with the character, and she used a curse word to say it. We’ll skip that part, but you get the idea.

Why was Hilary Duff tired of Lizzie McGuire?

The short version: she was a kid who became famous very fast, and everyone saw her as one person.

“I turned into a huge star. Everyone called me Lizzie,” she told PAPER, according to Parade. She also said, “I want people to see me. This isn’t fun anymore.”

She talked about how hard it was to grow up in public, too. “It was so weird being a child star and trying to cross that bridge into adulthood,” she said. Parade adds that she wanted to be taken seriously coming off Disney Channel.

That’s a pretty normal feeling for a teenager. Most of us just didn’t have a soundtrack album about it.

How long did Lizzie McGuire run on Disney Channel?

Lizzie McGuire aired on Disney Channel from January 2001 to February 2004. It ran two seasons and 65 episodes, which fits the “30 episodes one year and 35 the next” math Duff described, give or take how you count.

The Lizzie McGuire Movie hit theaters on May 2, 2003. It made about $42.7 million in the U.S. and about $55.6 million worldwide. It also gave the world “What Dreams Are Made Of,” the song from the big Rome finale that millennials still know every word to.

Does Hilary Duff still sing What Dreams Are Made Of?

Yes, and that’s the twist. Duff re-recorded the song as “What Dreams Are Made Of (Mine)” this year, and Parade says she sings it on her current tour.

She told PAPER it feels different now. “When I perform it now, I’m like, oh, I’m in this,” she said. “Back then, I just feel like I wasn’t in my body yet.”

And she sounds like she’s made peace with it: “I get to join the celebration of what it meant to people, and what it means to me now.”

Here’s the official video for her new version, posted to her YouTube channel in May:

What happened to the Lizzie McGuire reboot on Disney+?

Fans got close to a revival once. Disney announced a Lizzie McGuire series for Disney+ at the D23 Expo on Aug. 23, 2019. Filming started that fall, and two episodes were shot.

Then it stalled. Showrunner Terri Minsky left in January 2020, production paused, and Disney confirmed in December 2020 that the revival wasn’t moving forward. Those two episodes have never been released.

So if you were holding out hope for grown-up Lizzie in New York, this new interview doesn’t change that. It does explain a bit about why Duff guarded the character so closely the second time around.

What is Hilary Duff doing now?

Music, mostly. Duff released Luck… or Something, her first new album in about a decade, on Feb. 20, 2026. Her Small Rooms, Big Nerves Tour kicked off in London on Jan. 19. Harper’s Bazaar called it her first show in 18 years, and she sang “What Dreams Are Made Of” that night.

She followed it with the Lucky Me Tour, which started in June and has dates running into 2027. Billboard reported more shows added in September.

So the girl who was “done” with Lizzie in 2003 is now singing Lizzie’s big song to crowds full of adults who grew up with her. That’s a pretty good ending for a Disney Channel story.

Article compiled and written by Kambrea Pratt (editor-in-chief), Derek Gibbs (beat editor) and the Pirates & Princesses newsroom. Pirates & Princesses is part of WebReef Media.

Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

Hat Tips:

• PAPER (Oct. 2026), cover story interview

• Parade (Oct. 27, 2026), Duff’s quotes from PAPER

• Variety (Nov. 1, 2026), report on the interview

• Wikipedia, series, movie and box office details

• Billboard (Sept. 2026), added Lucky Me Tour dates

• Harper’s Bazaar (Jan. 20, 2026), London tour opener

• Hilary Duff (YouTube, May 28, 2026), What Dreams Are Made Of (Mine) video

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