Nude Babe Hilary Duff in FHM magazine UK edition

She's unsympathetic to young weakling celebrities New album Dignity is being trumpeted as her most personal (possibly because - get this -she actually helped write the lyrics). Excitingly, they offer a few thinly veiled swipes at famous people. For Instance, lyrics such as "Where's your dignity?/l think you lost it in the Hollywood Hills/.. .You'd show up to the opening of an envelope* suggest someone less than impressed by the whole sub-Hilton circuit. But the track gaining the most attention is Gypsy, which observers claim is a dig at Nicole Richie.
Is it nerve-wracking knowing someone's going to be picking your lyrics apart for hidden meaning?
When you're writing a record, it's kind of scary to put yourself out there because you're just setting yourself up for scrutiny, or judgment It's scary to be so personal - and to have people listen to it and say things that aren't true about it So, that song is nor about Nicole Richie. Ifs about my parents, and my dad having an affair [her parents separated in 2006]. It's a very personal song. Still, you seem to be remarkably well adjusted, compared to some of your peers. Why do you think that is? Ifs just who I am as a person. Plus, how my mom handled me. I didn't get special privileges growing up, and I didn't get everything that I wanted and I wasn't the one supporting the family, so I wasn't like the boss. I think that has a lot to do with it And then growing up around lots of young people that were so talented or were on the brink of being really talented, and seeing them getting involved in stuff and not really having anyone around to tell them how to handle it or what to do. Where were you living when you started in LA?
We were all staying at this apartment complex and there were kids from, like, 14 to 24 and they all hung out in the same circle. So it was pretty crazy too, once the older kids had started working and getting money, and getting into drugs or living a lifestyle that they couldn't really afford yet It taught us a big lesson at a young age. It was crazy at such a young age to watch them just lose it - and now they're nowhere, so... Do you ever look at more high-profile casualties, like Britney, and think "that could have been me"? I don't look at them and think that could have been me" because I'm me and I'm not like that But you never know why that is. I know that it can be really hard and there's lots of pressure with everyone watching you. But I don't think that excuses some behaviour.

Her school days were blighted with a Carrie-like deluge of bodily fluids Professionalism? Restraint? Good manners? Alarmingly, it seems like Duff actually is as nice as she makes out- We have one last try and ask about her school life. After all, by the age of six she was a ballet dancer with Columbus Ballet Met Surely here, will be tales of some stage-school histrionics, yes? No, it seems.
What's your strangest school memory? Some kid threw up on me when we were doing square dancing. I had to go home. Was it from the square dancing, or were they just 'over-excited'? I think he was over-excited. It was third grade and we did square dancing instead of gym during February. My partner threw up on me; it was just after lunch. I had to go home because I didn't have a change of clothes. You know he's still saying, "I threw up on Hilary Duff' to this day, right? Oh my gosh! I hope not Ifs not the greatest claim ever. Is it?