celebrity

Joel Madden was 25 when he dated 16yo Hilary Duff. He wouldn't let his daughter do the same.

By 2004, Hilary Duff was a teen sensation in every sense of the word. 

She'd already appeared in films like Cadet Kelly, Agent Cody Banks and Cheaper by the Dozen, not to mention become every teen girl's idol thanks to her role as Lizzie McGuire in both the Disney Channel series and film.

Duff had also ventured into music by this point, and provided young people (and tabloids) their fair share of gossip with a highly publicised love-triangle involving fellow teen stars Aaron Carter and Lindsay Lohan.

After moving on from that, Duff began a relationship with Good Charlotte musician Joel Madden in July 2004.

She was 16 at the time. He was 25.

For a year, the relationship was mostly private besides rampant tabloid speculation. But in June 2005, Duff's mother Susan announced it in an interview with Seventeen.

Two months later, they made their public debut at the 2005 Video Music Awards — two months before Duff's 18th birthday.

During an appearance on The View soon after, Duff said they had met through a mutual friend and were friends for three months before taking things further. She said they initially kept things secret because of the age difference.

Despite this, and as pointed out in a 2021 Paper magazine analysis, Google searches from the time of their relationship show up very few acknowledgements of the age gap at all, let alone to the fact that it was actually illegal as Duff was underage when it began.

Image: Getty.

ADVERTISEMENT

In 2006, they appeared on Teen People's 'love issue' cover, marketed as their 'first-ever photoshoot'.

At the time, the media coverage of the pair was mostly focused on their differing appearances and public personas, which they spoke about in the corresponding interview.

"You're automatically prejudging us because Joel has tattoos or I have blonde hair," Duff told the magazine. "He has tattoos, so he's bad, I smile all the time so I'm perfect."

They also spoke about how 'slow' their relationship had blossomed, acknowledging their large age-gap.

"We're on the same level, even though he's so much older," Duff said. "Joel is the most respectful boyfriend I've ever had. We had five or six dates before we even kissed."

ADVERTISEMENT

Madden said it was "the slowest relationship, physically, that I've had".

He also said that if he had a daughter Duff's age, he wouldn't be happy with her dating a man his age.

"I wouldn't let it happen," he said.

It wasn't until long after their breakup in November 2006 that anyone began to really interrogate it.

In 2015, following her divorce from first husband Mike Comrie, Duff gave an interview to Cosmopolitan in which she discussed growing up — and dating — in the public eye.

Like many of her counterparts from the early 2000s tabloid era, Duff had to deal with the world's inappropriate speculation about her sex life and obsession with 'virginity'.

Of that time period, she said: "I had a 26-year-old boyfriend. So everyone can make their own assumptions about what I was doing."

In a 2016 podcast interview on The Love Bomb, she said the relationship was "all-encompassing".

"It was so all-encompassing. It was so intense. It was my life. It was like every minute of my day. It was pretty major."

In the years since, new generations have come to learn about their relationship and expressed issues with the age gap. Every now and again, a new tweet asking 'why does no one talk about...' goes viral, sparking further discussion about age gap relationships among young stars in particular.

Image: Instagram.

ADVERTISEMENT

But even so, and close to two decades after they began dating, the exes appear to be on fine terms.

In February 2022, Madden and wife Nicole Richie, and Duff and husband Matthew Koma, went on a group date with two other couples, including Pete Wentz and his partner Meagan Camper.

Judging from the millennial online reaction, that dinner date broke many more brains than their relationship did in the 2000s.

Feature image: Getty.

Want to get the most out of your day? Take our survey now to go in the running to win a $50 gift voucher!