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In the new book Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel’s Tween Empire<\/i>, culture journalist Ashley Spencer goes behind the scenes into several popular 2000s\/2010s shows that were on the Disney Channel (as well as High School Musical) as well as the channel’s rising child stars.<\/p>\n
Hilary Duff and Lalaine were initially very close while filming Lizzie Maguire. Showrunner Stan Rogow said, “The two girls were literally best friends for three-quarters of the series, maybe more. And then they had a blow up that never got healed.”<\/p>\n
Then tensions rose behind the scenes during the first season when Lalaine got to sing “Reflection” in an episode. Says co-writer of the episode Tim Maile, “Hilary and her mom were very upset by that because their long-term plan was for Hilary to sing. And, in the overall scheme of Lizzie, Lalaine was the one who got to sing first.<\/b>” Also, Duff may have felt insecure that Lalaine had a closer bond with people on set as Duff’s schedule didn’t allow for her to spend time with the cast and crew. “There were a lot of emotional politics that were just unfortunate. It was a mess.<\/b>“<\/p>\n
Then during filming in 2002, the two teen girls had a fallout that fractured their friendship “all the way up to the parents.” <\/p>\n
Recounts Rogow, “There were two camps: \u2018We don\u2019t want to work with her,\u2019 and \u2018We don\u2019t want to work with her<\/i>,\u2019 It was like, oh my God, this is a nightmare. We couldn\u2019t solve it.<\/b>\u201d Author Spencer chalks up part of the feud to “typical teen-girl drama” as well as a mixture of career and management issues. It caused production to halt and ultimately, Lalaine was released from her contract six episodes early. Though thanks to the episodes airing out of sequence, she still appeared in the final episode that aired on the Disney Channel in 2004.<\/p>\n
Former Disney Channel president of entertainment Rich Ross comments in the book, “We could never and would never force someone to do [a show they didn\u2019t want to do]. For Lalaine, she was ready to go.”<\/p>\n
The show’s producers intended to bring Lalaine back for the season two Christmas episode, but the tension between the two girls was still thick. Writer Douge Touber recalls, “You could tell there was something going on between the two of them. Lalaine was kind of strutting like, \u2018I\u2019m baaack,\u2019 and Hilary didn\u2019t like that. After the table read, Stan told us, \u2018Well, she\u2019s not going to be in this one either.\u2019 So, we wrote her out.”
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Lalaine also narrates the audiobook<\/i>
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