Hilary Duff Felt Breakup With Joel Madden Needed To Happen

Hilary Duff is the cover girl on the May issue of CosmoGIRL, where the singer/actress was asked about her breakup with Joel Madden of Good Charlotte. “Joel was my boyfriend for two years and I loved him – he was a very important part of my life,” she said. “All that stuff about the age difference between us being the reason we broke up is just not true; I never felt the age difference. Breaking up was just something that I felt needed to happen between us. People thought we were an unlikely couple, but we really weren’t that different. After two months, I didn’t even see his tattoos anymore, because that’s not who he is. He used to say, ‘I don’t think there are too many people out there who really get you, but I do.’ And he did. I could be stupid, silly, funny, or crazy, and he got it. He gave me a sense of confidence and independence I didn’t have before. We e-mail all the time now and are at a really good place.”