Freddy Adu and Hilary Duff had never met, but word was the 15-year-old soccer star had a crush on the 17-year-old actress and singer. Naturally, we had to see for ourselves. Adu's prepping for his second season with MLS champs DC United, so we squeezed in this get-together in New York between stops on Duff's tour. Freddy, the rest is up to you. Want to see how the Adu-Duff meet-up went? Take a look at the ESPN Motion Clip for the behind the scenes action. |
Hilary |
I used to play soccer when I was younger. I was pretty good, too. |
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Freddy |
Yeah, right. |
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Hilary |
I was! I played offense. |
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Freddy |
Yeah, when you're younger, it's just offense and defense. |
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Hilary |
Oh, yeah. How old are you, Freddy? |
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Freddy |
I'm 15. |
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Hilary |
Oh my God, I didn't know that. OK. Well how did you get on a team of adults? Because you're that good? |
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Freddy |
[Laughs] I'm alright; I try. |
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Hilary |
[Laughs] When you're in your games, are you nervous? |
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Freddy |
Well, I wasn't nervous all week leading up to my very first game, but right when I was going in, everything hit me. My eyes were huge. |
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Hilary |
Oh my God, I'd freak out. |
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Freddy |
Yeah, after I started playing for a couple minutes, I kind of settled down and just pretty much did my thing. After that first game I wasn't nervous anymore. But I can make mistakes. You can't when you perform. |
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Hilary |
But the difference is people expect you to make goals. People have expectations of me, but it's not like a war. I don't have half the place booing me and the other half loving me. |
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Freddy |
Yeah, people expect me to score, like, three goals every game. No matter who you are, you can't do that. Early last season, I was playing horrible. I was doing all these appearances, and I struggled on the field. Finally, I was like, "OK, put all this other stuff aside." I'll pick and choose what I want to do. |
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Hilary |
I know I feel pressure when there's a whole day of stuff lined up and then I have to perform. I feel I can maybe get lazy sometimes if I've had too much sleep or I'm just chillin', you know what I mean? If I get out there and have a whole day of rest and relaxation, I'll go out there and be kind of like lazy with it. But if I know my energy's gone, I have to go out there and give a good show, then I'll really work hard and get it done. I almost perform better when I'm tired because I have to hype myself up. But there have been times where I'm like, "This is too much. I'm tired." But I have a problem with saying no to stuff because I know that everything I do, someone has it on my schedule for a reason ... in some way it's going to help me. |
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Freddy |
How do you have time to chill? You've got to do your movie thing and your music thing. |
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Hilary |
It's tough. When I'm working on a movie, usually I'm recording an album at the same time. I work during the day and go to the studio at night. When I'm touring, I have time because we'll drive on the bus and I'll get to watch movies, but I miss having like normal, hang-out time with my friends or driving my car, you know? |
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Freddy |
Right. You can't go to the mall without people following you, and have fun with your friends. Just hang out and be a normal, dumb teenager, so to speak. |
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Hilary |
I don't think that anybody gets into the business, like, "I want to be famous." You wanted to play soccer. I wanted to audition and work and challenge myself, whatever. There are things that come along with it that aren't necessarily asked for. But when it first starts happening, you're like, "Oh, my gosh, these people do know who I am" or you think, what I'm doing really is paying off. You know? |
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Freddy |
For me, I thought it was the coolest thing in the world when everything started happening, but after awhile, it wasn't as much. Everything we do, it's almost like, OK, I'm going to do this so I can earn respect. There's so much hype. If anything, I'd think people would be jealous. |
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Hilary |
'Cause you get so much attention so young? |
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Freddy |
Yeah. But my teammates are awesome, they help me out a lot. But I had to earn respect by what I did out there on the field. I had to do something to impact games before I could start earning respect from them, and most importantly, my coach. |
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Hilary |
It was hard for me to try and get respect from people. When I would tell someone, "Oh, I'm making a CD," they'd be like, "OK." You know, like, "Whatever." Then, no radio stations would play my music. Magazines and stuff didn't take it seriously until it just started selling so well. It was crazy, and then people started to listen, and then actually kind of take it a little more serious than it is. I hate to say it, but some people are intimidated by a young person who's successful. They'll treat you with an attitude. It's really petty and catty. Like, there's a lot of things you have to deal with sometimes that aren't fair, and you can't necessarily just come out and say it. A 60-year-old man will come to my show or review one of my movies and put in a hurtful jab. He's not my demographic! But now I'm just like, whatever. I try and blow it off because there's always a reason for someone's actions. |
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Freddy |
That sucks. OK, I have a question. What do you look for in a guy? |
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Hilary |
[Laughs] I'm from Texas, so respect is a big thing. Manners, respect and someone who makes me laugh. I like men who can just make me smile and understand my job and how busy I am. I also like motivated people. |
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Freddy |
Sounds good to me. |
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Hilary |
[Laughs] That was a good question! |
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Freddy |
OK, I have to admit that when I started watching Lizzie McGuire when I was 13, I was like, "Damn, this girl looks good!" |
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Hilary |
[Laughs] |
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Freddy |
And in a couple of interviews, people asked who I'd like to meet and I kept saying you. So people kind of built it up. But, hey, whatever. |
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Hilary |
Oh, Freddy. I'm so flattered! |
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Dunn/Ludacris | Dalejr/Arnold | Freeney/West | Walton/Kravitz | Lewis/LaBelle | McNabb/?uestlove |