Why Hilary Duff and Hayley Duff fell out: Song lyrics explained and Haylie’s response

After years of speculation, Hilary Duff has confirmed she is estranged from her older sister Haylie Duff.

Hilary released her sixth studio album Luck… or Something in February and track three “We Don’t Talk” hinted at the split in their relationship, with lyrics including: “‘Cause we come from the same home, the same blood / A different combination, but the same lock /  We don’t talk / We don’t talk / Talk about it / We don’t talk about anything anymore.”

But what happened between the pair?

Former best friends

Haylie and Hilary were raised as best friends, and for many years spoke lovingly of each other as they both raised children. 

Haylie, 40, found fame on 7th Heaven and later alongside her sister Hilary on the Disney series Lizzie McGuire.

“She’s a really natural mom,” Hilary told E! News in 2015 when Haylie welcomed her daughter, Ryan; she is also mom to daughter Lulu. “She has the baby on a schedule already, and she’s like, four-weeks-old.”

Hilary is the mother of four children: son Luca Cruz Comrie with ex-husband Mike Comrie, and three daughters with husband Matthew Koma: Banks, Mae, and Townes.

Hilary and Haylie’s parents divorced in 2008, which began the fracture in their family, and by 2019, it was rumored that Haylie and Hilary had distanced themselves from each other.

Haylie has since moved her family to Austin, Texas.

Hilary reveals boundaries

When Hilary released her new album, she spoke candidly about choosing to be honest about what was happening in her life.

“That’s my family,” Hilary told Glamour magazine. “Those are the people that affect you the most, take up the most space naturally as a human who’s born into something.”

However, she added: “Just because you’re born into a family doesn’t mean that it always stays together. You can only control your side and your street.”

“We Don’t Talk”

The lyrics to “We Don’t Talk” reveal Hilary is open to hearing from her sister, but claims that it is Haylie who is holding out on reconciling.

“Let’s have it out / I’ll hear you out, you’ll hear me out on the couch / Get back to how we were as kids / Let’s break it down / So sick of being so sad about / How we don’t talk and you won’t talk about it.”

Hilary opened up bravely on the Jay Shetty podcast about how it was “painful” to be as honest as she has been, but that not talking to Haylie is “a very raw part of my existence,” concluding: “I hope it’s not forever, but it’s for right now.”

What happened between Hilary and Haylie?

In the lyrics, Hilary claims she is “not sure when it happened, not even sure what it was about.”

However, the second verse alleges Haylie is “jealous” of Hilary’s success, singing that she would “sell it all and then break you off the bigger half”.

Neither Hilary nor Haylie have shared any other information.

Does Hilary want to reconcile with Haylie?

The lyrics suggest that Hilary does want to reconcile, but she told CBS Mornings that she is not sure if she wants Haylie to listen to the song, and that she does not believe it “would help”.

She said: “I hope that for everyone that is where I’m sitting, you have to do what you want to do and you have to do what feels good for you. It’s taken me a lot of time to get there and to live that way and to not care what the noise is going to be around it and just be me.”

What has Haylie Duff said about “We Don’t Talk”?

Haylie has yet to speak out about Hilary’s song and her claims. She was off social media for the month of February but returned on March 12, simply posting pictures of her two daughters in a field of bluebells.

“We always love finding the first blankets of bluebonnets!” Haylie captioned the post.