Hilary Duff has spoken candidly about body positivity, detailing how “proud” she’s been of her body over the years.
The 34-year-old actor discussed body image in Hollywood during a recent interview with Women’s Health, where she posed nude for the publication’s “Body Issue”.
As a woman in the acting industry, Duff noted that she sometimes felt pressured to look a certain way. “Because of my career path, I can’t help but be like, ‘I am on camera and actresses are skinny,’” she said.
She also acknowledged that at the age of 17, she struggled with a year long eating disorder, which was “horrifying”.
However, the Lizzie McGuire star expressed that she’s now in “a place” where she appreciates how her body has changed and everything it has given her, including the opportunity to birth her children.
Duff shares her 10-year-old son, Luca, with her ex-husband Mike Comrie, and shares two daughters, Banks, three, and Mae, one, with her current husband Matthew Koma.
“I’m proud of my body,” she said. “I’m proud that it’s produced three children for me. I’ve gotten to a place of being peaceful with the changes my body has gone through.”
Regarding her nude photoshoot for Women’s Health, Duff said she had some help when it came to styling and posing, as she was put in “the most flattering position”.
“I also want people to know a makeup artist was there putting glow all over my body and someone put me in the most flattering position,” she said.
When asked about when she started accepting her body, she said that it was “perhaps after Banks” was born. However, that wasn’t the only reason why, as she said that there were also “mental things” that impacted her.
“I didn’t even know if I was going to have the opportunity to have another child [after the divorce],” she said. “So, being a mom again, maybe. It was a whole mix of things—of being settled and realising that I’m powerful and talented and smart. All mental things.”
The How I Met Your Father star noted that regardless of how much people may alter their looks, she’s trying to be more focused on what’s “on the inside”.
“We get facials and Botox and our hair done and highlights and brows and lash lifts and all this sh**. But I want to work on the inside,” she added. “That’s the most important part of the system.” How’s that for some naked truth?”
In an episode of Women’s Health’s YouTube series, Body Scan, Duff emphasised how she’s gotten more “confident” in herself and body through ageing.
“I think that at 34 I have just gained a lot of respect for my body,” she said. “It’s taken me all of the places I need to go. It’s helped me build a beautiful family. I feel like the older I get, the more confident I get in my own skin.”
“And my body’s been many different shapes and sizes and I’m really just fascinated by, one, being a woman,” she continued. “And two, all the changes that your body can go through throughout your lifetime.”
She previously spoken about her body, detailing how it changed after giving birth to Luca during an interview with Women’s Health in 2018. According to Duff, she had to learn how to “be proud of what [her] body” has done for her, especially while she was pregnant with her son.
“My body helped create a bond between us, and me being there for him in those first months of his life ultimately was far more important than me trying to get in shape right away,” she explained. “And that mental shift helped all the other stuff eventually fall into place.”
