Hilary Duff: All Grown Up & Coming Clean

LOS ANGELES (May 18, 2007) — Hilary Duff is coming clean on a personal breakup in her new song “Stranger.”

And as Access Hollywood found out when we visited the set of her new music video, she appears to be taking aim at her ex, Joel Madden.

“It was like therapy, you know. Just a total release of all the things you hold inside,” Hilary told Access.

In her new song, she sings “If you can only see it like I do/Then they would see a stranger too/Did I ever do anything that was this cruel to you?”

But is she really targeting her ex? Maybe not, it turns out.

“I made it seem like this was a relationship that I was in, but it’s actually about my parents and about their relationship,” Hilary revealed. “But I didn’t want people to know that.”

Hilary’s parents separated in 2006, but “Stranger” isn’t the only song being defended by Duff.

The album’s title track “Dignity” has been rumored to be a dig at Joel Madden’s new girlfriend – Nicole Richie, with lyrics like “Where’s your dignity/I think you lost it in the Hollywood hills.”

“It was not aimed at Nicole Richie at all,” Hilary insists. “When I found out that my ex-boyfriend was dating someone else, my record was already finished.”

Either way, the dance inspired “Dignity” (which Hilary mostly co-wrote) is her most revealing work yet.

“It’s really a relief, you know, just to be honest and let people know that I’m normal and have issues just like them,” she concluded.