Hilary Duff Is a Holiday Icon

Hilary Duff Is a Holiday Icon

By Ivan Guzman
Dec 12, 2024

In many ways, a Meta AI holiday partnership with Hilary Duff makes sense. From her days on Lizzie McGuire, when a young Aaron Carter kissed her under the mistletoe, to her current status as a full-time mom and actress, the 37-year-old has always been a cultural icon for-the-people.

Having grown up and came into massive fame during the Y2K era alongside the likes of Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, Duff has always somehow seemed to manage the constant surveillance of tabloid culture and the early 2000s paparazzi boom with a graceful ease. “It was a really tough time to come up in the gossip era where people were talking about everything you were doing and everyone you were seen with,” she tells PAPER. “Now, I feel like it’s shifted into something different.”

Just imagine if something like artificial intelligence (at least our current understanding of it) existed during that time. The iPod was created in 2001 and Google first went public in 2004. It was a time when teen stars were being shuffled around on red carpets and worked to the bone and when Disney Channel original movies like Zenon and Smart House portrayed the future of “smart technology” as merely a distant, out-of-reach idea.

“Now we basically have that,” she says. “I actually hate how smart my house is. I want actual buttons to push on things.” Even still, the good side of AI and smart technology can be super helpful, Duff says, and her partnership with Meta AI is based in her actual reality. During the holidays, she uses Meta AI on a daily basis, from planning family trips, gift ideas, planning new school lunch box creations for her kids and for getting answers to simple questions. “If Meta AI could grow some hands and be like an actual person around here sometimes, that would be great," she laughs.

When I tell Duff that maybe she could get a Tesla Robot (like Kim Kardashian recently did), she says she’s not really interested. “I really don’t think I’m down for another person living in the house. We’re pretty full at the moment.” Even though everything can feel overwhelmingly instant and fast-paced at the moment, it’s also an exciting, colorful time to be alive. As Duff says in her 2003 hit: “Now everything’s technicolor.”

We sat down with Duff to discuss how Meta AI plays a role in holiday planning, Disney Channel Original Movies and secret new projects.

They say that you’re a holiday icon. What do you think makes you a holiday icon, and how has Meta AI helped you with your planning during the holidays?

Oh my god, I don’t know if I’m a holiday icon, but that’s so nice. In my household, I definitely am because I create all the magic. This year, I actually have been using Meta AI to help harness the chaos that ensues in my head because there’s so much to do. So creating checklists, helping me come up with a few amazing appetizers that I have to bring places, gift ideas for kids when you’re just fresh out of ideas because they get everything they want throughout the year anyway. That’s been very, very helpful. Also, I have such a range of kids’ ages that it’s hard to stay organized with everything I’ve purchased, what I need to purchase and by when. And gift-wrapping ideas, itineraries. Like, "Hey, we’re taking this day trip to San Diego or we’re going to Ojai. Help me create three memorable things that we can do there." And it’s just boom, boom, boom. It’s crazy. I’m about to go have holiday dinner with a big group of girlfriends, and I’m like, "Okay, tell me five of the most talked about restaurants in LA right now, and provide all of their menus.” Boom, it’s there. It’s just a crazy good assistant. I’ve been utilizing it, and it’s been helping me so much. Also, the more you use it, the more it gets to know you, and that’s been really helpful as well.

You came up during the Y2K era and were a celebrity in the early 2000’s when Google was just coming about. Meta AI is like Google times ten. What was that like for you, and what advice would you give to young actresses who are just coming into fame during this crazy AI era?

I don’t really know how to speak on the AI era of it all because some of that is also still kind of confusing to me. Meta AI is different for me than some of the other AI — people that look like you, that kind of stuff. I don’t really know how to wrap my brain around all of that. I will say that for me, it was a really tough time to come up in the gossip era where people were talking about everything you were doing and everyone you were seen with. Paparazzi started to really take off. Now, I feel like it’s shifted a lot into something different. I think there are pluses and minuses to all of it. You take a job in the public, and all of a sudden you lose a big part of people’s lives where they get anonymity. You instantly give that away. Again, there are pluses and minuses. But I think as long as you’re staying on top of and in the mix of the different media that sits in our hands because of our phones now, it’s helpful. You ride the wave of that. I feel like it’s an important part of pop culture. I have so many different directions in which I can talk about it. It brings on new challenges, but it’s also a helpful tool, in a way.

It’s the good and bad. It’s scary, but exciting at the same time.

It’s instant now. So that’s definitely different from when I was coming into the scene. Now, everything is within minutes. Something can come on the internet, or there are reports. Everything’s just instant now.

It reminds me of DCOMs, the Disney Channel Original Movies. That’s all of our lives now. Did you watch those DCOMs, and do you have a favorite one?

Of course. I loved Zenon because I loved the clothes, but I think I liked Smart House more because the Smart House idea of it was so cool. But now we basically have that. I actually hate how smart my house is. It’s way too smart for me. I want actual buttons to push on things. I’ve been able to turn my lights off in my house on my phone forever, and I’ve just started using it. I’m like, "Oh yeah, I left the kitchen lights on. I can turn them off on my phone!"

But there’s something nice to turning off an actual light switch.

Maybe that’s because I think I’m old, I don’t know. I crave that button.

No, you’re forever young.

Thanks!

What’s a day-in-the-life of Hilary Duff nowadays? I know you’re focused on being a mom. How does Meta AI play a part in that? Aside from this partnership, do you find yourself using it to help you out in certain situations?

Yes, all the time. Honestly, this morning, I was like, "Give me some new snack ideas for lunch boxes." Because your stuff just gets stale. You’re like, "My kids aren’t eating this anymore, what can I do?" You have to be the mind for so many kids that aren’t really there yet. You also can’t be a mind reader, but you wanna try new things and expose them to new things. So that’s a helpful tool with Meta AI — just brainstorming new ideas when you’re tapped [out]. But a day in the life? I wake up around 6 or 6:15 AM. I get up with the baby. I have coffee. We chill, we play. By 6:45 AM, the rest of the house is waking up. I usually pass the baby off to someone and start cooking breakfast and packing lunches and getting backpacks ready to go out the door. Getting everybody dressed. Right now, my six-year-old has to have her hair perfect before she leaves and she’s very particular about that. My 12-year-old’s stuff is scattered all over the house, so if Meta AI could grow some hands and be like an actual person around here sometimes, that would be great.

You could get a Tesla Robot!

I know. I don’t think I’m down. I really don’t think I’m down for another person living in the house. We’re pretty full at the moment [laughs]. But honestly, in more fun ways, sometimes my son will ask me, "Who played soccer in this 1996 team for Manchester United?" And I’m like, "I swear to God I listen to you when you talk to me, and I should know this," but I’ll secretly just ask Meta AI. Boom, I know the answer, and he’s like, "You’re a genius." And I’m like, "I know." Silly things like that, but also planning a girl's trip — you can throw it into a conversation with multiple people so you can all be asking and coming up with it at the same time, which is really cool. And then if we’re getting back to my day-in-the-life of, usually my husband drops off the kids so I can get a workout in. I’m usually spending at least two hours on emails. I am working on a project right now, so I will usually go to that job that I can’t totally talk about right now for a little bit every single day. And then, it’s usually sports and dance and all the other kid things. Sometimes I’ll grab dinner with a friend, but that’ll be after I put children to bed. Then I’m waking up and doing the whole thing all over again.

Well thank you so much for talking to me. You’re an idol to me.

Thank you so much, Ivan. I hope you have a good holiday.

Photo via Getty

Related Articles Around the Web