Hilary Duff stays Grounded...

Hilary Duff stays grounded By DAVID SCHMEICHEL -- Sun Media

It makes perfect sense that former tween queen Hilary Duff would want to name her most recent album Dignity.

For one thing, she's one of the only stars her age who could pull it off.

To date, Duff is one of scant few members of Hollywood's new guard who have yet to be arrested, shipped off to rehab, or caught flashing their lady parts to paparazzi while clumsily exiting a limo.

Instead, she has made a pretty smooth transition from teen-TV fare like Lizzie Maguire to popular big-screen projects like A Cinderella Story and the Cheaper by the Dozen franchise. Along the way, she's released six CDs, and while critics haven't always been kind to her fluffy brand of pop, the Dignity disc -- awash in electro-clash stylings and heavily autobiographical lyrics -- has been met with pretty positive reviews.

So what is it that keeps Duff -- already a show-biz veteran at the tender age of 19 -- out of the scandal sheets and in the public's good books?

"I guess it's my mom," says Duff, while being driven to her home in L.A. "I really feel like that is what has made it so easy for me to not have to go through all that.

"My mom and my sister being so close to me, and my actually caring what they have to say ... Also having a mom that doesn't want the lifestyle I have, but who just wants to be my mom."

She's definitely on to something there. While your typical train-wreck celebs (think Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton or Nick Carter) tend to have parents who are just as fame-hungry as they are, those lucky enough not to be dogged by scandal (think Justin Timberlake, Mandy Moore, and ... uh, see how hard this?) usually have guardians content to offer support from the sidelines.

Perhaps we have Duff's mom to thank for the perky pop star's preternatural poise, which seems a bit at odds with the awkward antics she engaged in on the Lizzie Maguire set back in the day.

"Well, in some ways I was a lot like that character, but I've also always been pretty mature for my age," says Duff, when asked which persona -- clumsy klutz or dignified diva -- most resembles the real-life Hilary.

Not that she's looking to show all her cards anytime soon. A far more private person than her compatriots, Duff says she found it difficult to air some of her dirty laundry on Dignity, which sees her riffing on a failed relationship, her parents' recent divorce, and a stalker jailed for harassing her in 2006.

"At first it was scary, because you're like, 'How much do I want people to know?' " explains Duff, who's been romantically linked to Aaron Carter and Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden. "It's hard to let your guard down when you're so used to having it up, but it got easier."

That practice should prove beneficial where Duff's acting career is concerned, especially since it's the outlet she plans to focus on whenever doubling as an actress and a singer grows too demanding.

Though her prior efforts have netted her a string of Razzie Award nominations (not a good thing), she's got two high-profile film projects due out this year -- voice-work on the animated comedy Foodfight!, and a part in the political satire War Inc., alongside John Cusack, Marisa Tomei and Ben Kingsley.

But fans of her albums needn't worry -- she isn't done with singing just yet.

"It's that instant gratification of having a live audience in front of you," Duff says, when asked what recording offers that acting doesn't. "Having people who don't even speak the same language as you relating to you, and singing all the words to your songs."

Courtesy: Jam.canoe.ca