Hilary Duff Defends Her Mom After Frankie Muniz Calls Her ‘Intense’

Hilary Duff is speaking out about mom Susan Duff’s role in her early career after her Agent Cody Banks co-star, Frankie Muniz, recently described her as “super intense” and “the epitome of a stage mom.”

“I was never pushed into acting and I was never pushed into singing,” Hilary, 38, told Mythical Kitchen host Josh Scherer in an interview posted on Friday. “My mom knew that my sister [Haylie Duff] and I loved performing … I understand giving what your children are interested in energy.”

She continued, “Back when I was doing it, no one was acting where I came from, so everyone thought it was like, ‘She has a stage mom.’”

While the Lizzie McGuire star didn’t specifically call out Muniz’s comments about her mom, she noted that it was “really nice” to have her mother’s suport as a child star “for better or for worse,” adding, “I think there [were] obviously mistakes made and a learning process, but it’s hard to be like a family up against a machine. …I’m super grateful for [my mom].”

Duff’s comments on her mother come six months after her fellow former child star Muniz recalled Susan’s “stage mom” tendencies as causing a rift in their friendship during an appearance on The Joe Vulpis Podcast.

Muniz, 40, accused Susan of going behind his back to get Hilary cast as the female lead in Agent Cody Banks after he was contractually guaranteed a say in who his co-star would be. While Muniz was initially looking to work with Smallville‘s Kristin Kreuk, he claimed that the day after Susan learned about the movie from him, she revealed that Hilary had been signed for the role.

“The movie you knew nothing about yesterday?” Muniz remembered thinking. After calling his agents, Muniz said he learned that “calls were made” and that they knew he and Hilary were close, so they “just assumed it was fine.”

“Needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled about it. And not because I didn’t want it to be Hilary,” he said, adding that it was more about the way the decision had been made behind his back.

“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 continued, admitting, “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.”