A Refreshing Face on the Naughty Gossip Girl

Hilary Duff Brightens Dark and Naughty Upper East Side Series

Nov 4, 2009

Why was Hilary Duff's recent appearance on Gossip Girl so refreshing? She has managed to corral her self-image and not find herself in the tabloids every week.

Here's a celebrity from Houston that lassoed great Disney success at an early age and parlayed into a career of feature films and platinum-selling albums.

Certainly, this is not to say that she has not found herself there in the past: a Bermuda love triangle with the tabloid saturating Lindsay Lohan and Backstreet Boy brother Aaron Carter and a relationship and subsequent breakup with Joel Maddon of the high profile band Good Charlotte.

Everything Begins With The Mouse

Her career began innocently enough with the Lizzie McGuire series for the Disney channel. Without the pre-teen there would be no Hannah Montana. Hilary Duff was Miley Cyrus before Miley Cyrus. Both were successful series and eventually found themselves on the big screen, though the Hannah Montana version grossed much more. Both characters feature somewhat of an alter ego (of Doug Funnie proportions) for the title character.

For McGuire, she plays a seemingly normal teenager with an alternative personality of honesty and aggressively pink hues. Montana has the same typical teen persona, but holds down a second job of a unilaterally successful pop singer. And in this era of cross promotion and synergy, it’s not surprising that both Duff and Cyrus factored into each series’ respective soundtracks.

Disney appears to be the point of origin for female child stars. Britney Spears began on Star Search (now replaced by American Idol) and on the once ubiquitous Mickey Mouse Club. Lindsay Lohan began with Disney feature films too with The Parent Trap, Get a Clue, and Freaky Friday. Paris Hilton is in the category of famous for being famous or more succinctly, a socialite. Such is the backdrop for the other pop culture teen sensations.

Distancing Herself From The Pack

All these stars mentioned began at the same point, but Duff seems to have distanced herself from the constant paparazzi surveillance. It’s hard to imagine that in the world of Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and TMZ that any person of relative fame might elude the spotlight and perhaps the spotlight still shines on Duff on the red carpet, but she avoids the controversial spotlight.

Perhaps her very public fiasco with the aforementioned love triangle with Aaron Carter (currently with Bruno, Carrie Ann, and Len on Dancing With The Stars) with the poor teen idol example of Lohan was so humiliating for Duff that she forced herself to stay out of the spotlight. All the debauchery floating around these teen sensations is enough to make one invest heavily in the rehab business! No recession for the millionaire rehab facilities. In the game of word association, Duff does not coincide with debauchery.

Balancing The Equation?

Let’s all rejoice in the former Lizzie McGuire star’s resurfacing on Gossip Girl, as the self-aware and humble college freshman celebrity. It’s so easy to root for herand her character because of her knack for sidestepping tabloid landmines. She seems to take herself (and her work!) more seriously; not taking things for granted. Hilary Duff is Olivia Burke. Olivia Burke IS Hilary Duff. She’s had successful movies and maybe a few platinum records. Perhaps Gossip Girl creator Josh Schwartz should look to his previous show The O.C. and create a fake show for Olivia Burke. The circle would now be complete.

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