So what’s the most you’ve spent on one thing if you’re treating yourself?
Handbags are expensive, you know. But I don’t think I would ever spend more than $1,500 on a handbag.

Have you ever downloaded anything illegally?
You know what? I’m so bad on computers, I can never figure out iTunes!

Okay, if a kid was being prosecuted for illegally downloading your album, would you leave them there to get their just punishment?
I don’t think I would want them to get sent to jail, but I might wanna give them a piece of my mind. It’s just not cool, because this market is for our music and for an artist to be able to tour and do what we do, you know, now it’s so scarce. We need to be able to make money to be able to have our record label support us and go into the studio, make records, shoot great videos, and it’s entertainment. But when people are getting it illegally and not supporting it, they’ve no… It sounds greedy, but it’s not like all that money goes to us, you know.

She attracts crazed fans
On November 3, 2006, police arrested Maksim Miakovsky, an 18-year-old Russian immigrant who had come to America purely to meet and become ‘romantically involved’ with Duff. With typical east European flair, he went about this by threatening to kill her and anyone else who got in his way, and then told a private investigator about his plans. Terrifying indeed – especially as she’d only recently stopped living with her mother.

So has that changed how you live?
Definitely. It was hard for a while because I had someone, a security person, living with me and going everywhere with me. It’s, like, you feel so trapped, there’s no freedom, and everything scares you. It was horrible, because I like my independence.

Is it different when you come to the UK?
Yeah. You know what, I notice that when people recognise you in England, they’ll come up and maybe ask for a picture or an autograph or something and then they leave you alone. In the States, people want something from you and then they wanna keep staring and watch every move you make… and then video you on their phone.