NEED TO KNOW
In a recent interview, Chad Michael Murray admitted he had no idea that inviting Hilary Duff to the Freaky Friday premiere in 2003 would stir up headlines due to her feud with Lindsay Lohan
Looking back, the now-44-year-old actor laughed at how little thought he gave the situation as a teenager
Even so, Murray said he remembers the night as a fun time with his Cinderella Story costar
Chad Michael Murray has built a career filled with fan-favorite roles, from charming audiences in One Tree Hill and A Cinderella Story to appearing alongside Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan in Freaky Friday.
More than two decades after those projects first hit screens, the 44-year-old actor is looking back on one memorable moment from that era with a new perspective.
During a recent interview with Parade, Murray reflected on bringing Hilary Duff as his date to the 2003 Freaky Friday premiere — a decision that unintentionally landed him in the middle of one of the biggest teen celebrity feuds of the early 2000s, between Duff and Lohan.
“I didn’t understand any of the real weight of what was going on,” Murray told the outlet. “I don’t remember the timeline of when I learned about A, B, C, and D, but I loved hanging with Hil.”
Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray at the 2003 ‘Freaky Friday’ premiere.
Credit: Kathryn Indiek/Globe Photos/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock; Albert L. Ortega/WireImage
At the time, Murray was juggling two major projects. While promoting Freaky Friday, he was also filming A Cinderella Story with Duff, and the pair were spending plenty of time together as they worked to build chemistry for the romantic comedy.
With that in mind, inviting his costar to accompany him to the premiere seemed like an easy choice.
“We were spending time together, but I remember everybody saying, ‘Hey guys, we need you to spend more time together,'” he reflected. “We had a big kissing scene, we had the big dance scene, so there were a ton of nerves, and we wanted to be comfortable. So I was like, ‘Well, let’s go to the premiere. Come on, we’ll hang out!’ ”
Lindsay Lohan at the 2003 ‘Freaky Friday’ premiere.
Credit: Albert L. Ortega/WireImage
What Murray didn’t fully grasp until the last minute was the attention the appearance would generate because of the well-known tension between Duff and his Freaky Friday costar. As he recalled, the realization came only moments before they walked inside.
“I found out right before we went inside that [bringing Duff] was not the greatest idea,” Murray laughed. “But when you’re 19, you have no foresight. I didn’t think anything through. But everybody’s lovely, I loved them, and I think they have squashed all that junk.”
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Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray in ‘A Cinderella Story.’
Credit: Ron Batzdorff/Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock
Duff has also since looked back on the same moment herself. During a February appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, the 38-year-old pop star and actress acknowledged that she “intentionally” crashed the Freaky Friday premiere during her highly publicized rivalry with “childhood nemesis” Lohan.
“Chad Michael Murray invited me,” Duff told host Alex Cooper. “I don’t wanna start any more stuff, but he was like, ‘You should come with me.’ And I was like, ‘Mhmm. Probably I should.’ ”
The feud between the two former teen stars became a defining tabloid storyline of the era, with part of the speculation centering on their overlapping relationships with the late Aaron Carter.
However, while chatting with Cooper, Duff noted that the two buried the hatchet years ago.
“Lindsay came up to me at a club once and was like, ‘Are we good?’ And I was like, ‘We’re good.’ She was like, ‘Let’s take a shot.’ I’m like, ‘Okay.’ It was amazing,” she recalled.
Despite the unexpected drama surrounding the red carpet, Murray remembers that night — and his time making A Cinderella Story — for far happier reasons. Rather than dwelling on headlines, he looks back on the experience as one of the highlights of his early career.
“I love Hil. A Cinderella Story was one of the most fun sets I’ve ever been on. It was like a high school field trip,” Murray told Parade. “Hilary and I would talk about all sorts of things in life. We were hanging out every day. Life was good.”
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