Christy Carlson Romano says Shia LaBeouf wanted Even Stevens to beat its Disney Channel competition so badly that he’d trash-talk Lizzie McGuire, apparently without Hilary Duff even knowing there was a rivalry.
“Hilary had no clue about that. I’m sure she was doing her own thing, but he would always be kind of like trash-talking ‘Lizzie McGuire,’” Romano recalled on The Joe Vulpis Podcast. She described him as “very competitive” and said she’d question why he was criticizing people they didn’t know.
Romano said the pressure centered on ratings within Disney Channel, rather than a feud with Nickelodeon’s actors. In her view, LaBeouf’s difficult childhood helped explain how much the show’s success mattered to him.
“He wanted to be the number one show on the network. He had to be the number one show because I think his life depended on that show doing well,” she said. “He had a rough upbringing, and I think he needed that show to do well for him.”
She’s also described their own relationship as being “like oil and water,” despite playing siblings on Even Stevens. Romano recalled being raised with strict expectations about knowing her lines and hitting her marks, while describing LaBeouf’s upbringing as chaotic. LaBeouf has spoken about his father being a recovering addict and, at times, abusive.
Romano later worked alongside Duff in Disney Channel’s Cadet Kelly.