Hilary Duff needed a decade "to make peace with" Lizzie McGuire

Appearing on The Drew Barrymore Show, she said: "I think it took me like a good 10 years to make peace with like Lizzie McGuire.

"You know, it was, it's weird to like play a character that people fall so in love with that doesn't grow up.

"She stays that age and then I grew up. You know what I mean?

"And so now I'm like obsessed with her and I like get to join the fandom and be excited like everybody else, even though I like was her, but for a while it was a hard thing to be like changing and evolving - but everywhere I went, I was this to people."

Drew asked Hilary if she made a conscious decision to separate herself from her breakout role, and she revealed that was the inspiration behind her music career.

She added: "I think that was why I became, I wanted to be a pop star.

"You know, the second I finished filming Lizzie, I was like cool, I don't wanna be called that anymore, and I'm gonna be - I'm gonna make music, and I'm gonna get a record deal, and I'm gonna be a pop star. [And] I did."

Hilary previously admitted she was "sad" that Disney's planned Lizzie McGuire revival got scrapped, because she wants to explore a more "grown up" version of the titular character.

She told i-D magazine: "I'm sad [those ideas] are going to waste, but maybe I feel slightly happy because I don't know if I would have made music a priority. But I'm sad that we didn't get to explore what her life would be like now. I have a great relationship with Disney, so no disrespect, but I feel like they should have listened to me.

"I'm the age of the people that would watch this, and I know what they would want.

"It wasn't like I wanted something crazy, but I wanted her to be grown up.

"I think they were a little scared."

However, Hilary hasn't completely ruled out a reboot of the show - which also featured Adam Lamberg, Jake Thomas, and Hallie Todd - in the future.

But, now, she would want to wait a couple of decades before stepping into the character's shoes again.

She said: "I feel like I wouldn't do it at 40, but I might do it at 60."