Frankie Muniz hasn’t spoken to Hilary Duff for over 20 years because of her ‘intense’ mom
The Malcolm in the Middle actor was "really, really good friends" with the Lizzie McGuire star in the early days of his career.
After they worked together on Agent Cody Banks their bond fell apart because of the circumstances surrounding his former pal's casting.
Speaking on The Joe Vulpis Podcast, Frankie said: “Hilary Duff was probably one of my first friends when I moved to LA.”
"We became really, really good friends. We had a really great relationship for a long time. She asked me to do Lizzie McGuire, which I was like, 'Yeah!'" he recalled.
Frankie then discussed an incident that altered his friendship with Hilary and that was when her mother asked him what projects he would be working on for that summer when Malcolm in the Middle would be on hiatus.
He continued: "I go, 'Oh, I'm filming this movie where I'm playing like a junior James Bond. It's called Agent Cody Banks.'”
"And she's like, 'Is there a girl that could be Hilary, that would be good for Hilary?' And I was like, 'Yeah, but I dunno.'"
However, the next he was flabbergasted by some news.
He said: "The next morning I show up to the set, I go into her dressing room to hang out, and her mom's like, 'Guess what? We're gonna be spending the summer together!'”
Frankie continued, "She was like, 'We're gonna be up in Vancouver together!' I'm like, 'Oh, what's Hilary filming? Is she filming a movie up there too? That's awesome! We'll get to hang out, we'll have dinners.' She goes, 'No, she's doing Cody Banks with you.'”
"I looked at her and I went, 'No she's not!' She's like, 'No, yeah, yeah, she is. They signed the contract last night.' And I'm like, 'The movie you knew nothing about yesterday, you signed — how — it's not possible! It's not humanly possible,'" he said.
The Racing Stripes star called his agents to find out how the casting had happened without his input.
He recalled: "I'm like, 'Hey, I'm just wondering' — I wasn't mad, it was just shocking, 'cause I had the say, they didn't ask me.”
"Supposedly, calls were made, and they knew that Hilary and I were really close, and I was filming her show, so they just assumed it was fine. So needless to say, I wasn't thrilled about it,” Frankie confessed.
"And not because I didn't want it to be Hilary. Just because they went around me," he said.
After working on Agent Cody Banks together, Frankie and Hilary never spoke to each other again.
He said: "I was very sad when Hilary's mom would come on set [for Agent Cody banks] I'm being honest, you know what I mean? I'm old enough to where I realize I don't mind people knowing the truth.”
"I've never talked to Hilary since the last day of filming. I've not said one word to her since then. So that's the truth that no one knows about,” Frankie Muniz concluded.