Hilary Duff has revealed she’s still friendly with a very controversial ex almost two decades after the pair split.

Imagine this, it’s 2004, Nickelodeon and Disney shows are popping, you’ve got your scoobies attached to your backpack, your game boy in your pocket, Tamagotchi pinging at you and low-rise jeans are the latest trend.

You flip the page of your favourite teen magazine, and you’re greeted with the weirdest cross-over in history: MTV meets Lizzie McGuire.

What the hell is going on?

It was a wild year, and especially for Hilary Duff.

It was in July of that year she embarked on a romance that would raise everyone’s eyebrows.

Hilary Duff was 16 when she began dating 25-year-old Joel Madden (Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage via Getty)

Duff was 16 at the time when she began dating Good Charlotte’s Joel Madden, who was 25 and nine years older.

Even though their relationship was met with critics, mostly due to Madden’s tattoos and piercings, as well as a strange obsession with Duff’s image, the pair were not fussed by the comments.

The romance didn’t last long and in November 2006 they broke up.

Just under two decades after they began dating, the pair met in 2022 for a group date.

Madden was joined by wife Nicole Richie, and Duff was with her husband Matthew Koma, and also invited Pete Wentz and his partner Meagan Camper to the event.

Duff explained that she’s friends with Madden (Vanity Fair)

The actress, who turned 37 today (28 September), was asked in the same year by Vanity Fair about this moment and whether it was important to her to stay friendly with her exes, to which she simply replied ‘no’.

She added: “I do enjoy being friends with him now. One hundred percent.

“But I don’t need to be friends with all of my exes. This is very situational.”

Thankfully, the person conducting the lie detector test confirmed that Duff was telling the truth.

Phew.

Back in 2015, Duff gave an interview to Cosmopolitan, and she talked about what it was like dating an older man as a teen.

She said: “I had a 26-year-old boyfriend. So everyone can make their own assumptions about what I was doing.”

Madden has also talked about the relationship too, giving Teen People an interview when the pair appeared on the cover in 2006.

They explained how ‘slow’ their relationship was and acknowledged their large age-gap.

Duff said: “We’re on the same level, even though he’s so much older.

“Joel is the most respectful boyfriend I’ve ever had. We had five or six dates before we even kissed.”

Madden on the other hand explained that it was ‘the slowest relationship, physically, that I’ve had’ before stating that if he had a daughter Duff’s age, he wouldn’t allow her to date an older man like him.

“I wouldn’t let it happen,” he said.

A woman who slept with 300 people in one year has revealed why she’s still single.

Annie Knight, 26, from the Gold Coast, Australia, describes herself as ‘Australia’s most sexually active woman’ after revealing her magic number on social media last year.

In the space of 365 days, Knight slept with 300 partners and hooked up with five over a 24-hour period.

Describing her sex life as empowering, Knight told The Kyle and Jackie O Show: “I felt empowered afterward. Sex makes me feel good. It’s meant to make you feel good.

“It’s just fun and exciting. It’s messy; the messier the sex the better.”

Knight explained she uses regular dating apps to meet partners, as well as her success on OnlyFans, which earns her AU $1,000 (£518) per day and secures her in the top 0.4 percent of creators on the platform.

But despite her popularity, Knight – who is believed to now make around AU $1million a year from her content – explains she’s still single, and she has a pretty simple reason why.

TikTok/@annieknight78

Responding to a fan question about her relationship status, Knight explained that she’s ‘yet to meet a single man’ who has the seven personality traits she’s looking for in a partner.

“Last year was meant to be my year of dating,” she explained.

“I went on six dates and they were all immediate nos for me and I got tired of it. So, I took a break in May.

“I have only just started dating again but the reason I’m single is, it’s find to hard a guy who ticks all my boxes.

“Which is honestly crazy because the boxes are very basic.”

TikTok/@annieknight78

Knight revealed her preferences, explaining she wants someone who is loyal, kind, non-judgemental, funny, confident but not cocky, has similar interests to her, can hold a conversation and isn’t needy or desperate to hang out with her all day every day.

There is one other catch, however, with Knight telling the Daily Mail: “They have to want to film content with me. If they don’t, then I can’t have a relationship with them – it’s my job!

“Even if they wear a headscarf of whatever and don’t show their face, I don’t care.

“If they don’t want to show their face that’s not a problem.”

Have you recently watched the number one fanfic movie on Amazon Prime?

Well, if not, you need to get on the bandwagon like all the other romance-lovers because it’s amazing.

The Idea of You is the hottest thing to drop out of Amazon Prime in 2024, but there’s something they didn’t mention to fans…

It was actually supposed to be even more racy than you saw.

So, it turns out that there were more sex scenes in the original cut than what ended up going to the public.

Those who read Robinne Lee’s The Idea of You book in 2017, you’ll know that there were a lot of explicit portions in the book to fangirl over.

However, fans were sorely shocked when they realised that two scenes in particular didn’t make the cut.

Prime’s film adaptation with the beautiful Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine is a little different.

Particularly the ending.

But it’s the lack of sex that’s got people talking.

That, and the type of sex.

The books was very saucy. Amazon Prime

If you didn’t know, the book is major graphic about their intimacy, and it’s one of the things that showed the chemistry between the couple.

The movie? A little PG I must say.

Okay, so they kept the scene where Hayes makes Solène orgasm while she’s still fully clothed, but they completely missed out Hayes giving her oral and the best time ever.

I know it’s not Fifty Shades of Gray, but it’s a good depiction of an age-gap couple entering that honeymoon phase of their relationship and fooling around whenever and wherever they can.

There was also a scene where Hayes and Solène have unprotected sex for the first time on a kitchen table, which wasn’t in the film.

It’s yet to be revealed why the creators decided to cut those scenes from the movie but it could be down to film ratings, run time or anything else which could have an affect on the project.

Maybe the actors didn’t want to? Who knows!

Two sex scenes were cut. Amazon Prime

Anne Hathaway did, however, come out to say that incorporating the book and its scenes was important to her and to the movie.

She said to Variety: “In the book, Robinne describes intimate acts with the most unbelievable energy. In their first physical sexual connection, Hayes brings Solène to orgasm while [she is fully] clothed.”

She added: “That became our North Star in terms of expressing cinematic sex in a way that makes it about her pleasure, while also making the point that a huge part of pleasure is giving someone else pleasure.”

Maybe we’ll find out if there’s a part 2 and then they can whack in those scenes again.

Channel 4 is looking for adult virgins for a new reality TV show.

We may only be a few weeks into 2024, but if you already feel like you need a holiday then fear not, because Channel 4 has you covered – if you’re a virgin that is.

With the British TV channel already home to a plethora of bizarre, bewitching but also quite frankly baffling reality dating shows – take Naked Attraction or Married at First Sight – you’d think it would’ve run out of ideas, but apparently not.

Channel 4 has released a call-out for applicants for its new reality TV series on its website.

The page reads – half of it in quite alarming caps lock: “ARE YOU A VIRGIN? OR HAVE YOU ALWAYS STRUGGLED WITH INTIMACY?

“ACCORDING TO A RECENT STUDY, ONE IN EIGHT BRITISH 26 YEAR OLDS IS STILL A VIRGIN.

“If YOU are aged 21 or over and would like to be guided in the art of intimacy on a Mediterranean island retreat, find more info, T&Cs and application form at www.theintimacyretreat.co.uk.”

Once you’ve gotten over the fact that a supposed one in eight British 26 year olds are still virgins – I mean, look at Love Island – you’ll be intrigued to know the working title for the series is currently listed as The Intimacy Retreat.

But, while that’s all well and good, what is the series actually going to entail for contestants?

Getty Images/ Mike Kemp/ In Pictures

Well, according to a source, the show is going to take a similar format to Love Island.

A source told The Sun: “This is very much a Love Island scenario, but a dating show with a real difference…

“Of course it has echoes of Love Island but it’s a bit more sophisticated and complicated than just lazing round a pool eyeing each other up before all pairing up for bedtime antics when the lights go out.”

And a spokesperson for Channel 4 told The Mirror: “The Intimacy Retreat (working title) is a six-part formatted documentary series for Channel 4 that follows the journey of a group of adults who are virgins (or identify as virgins) as they learn life-changing skills in the art of intimacy.

Getty Stock Image

“Our leading sexologists will be running a unique Mediterranean island retreat that, using a radical and entirely new approach, will help people overcome their fears and insecurities when it comes to intimacy and sex.”

A spokesperson for the series added the ‘fears and insecurities’ could include people who ‘lack body confidence, are unsure about [their] sexual identify or orientation, have social anxiety or physical issues that can make sex worrying or uncomfortable’ or who’ve previously sworn off sex due to religious reasons.

If you’re interested in applying for the show, you have until 25 February to show your interest and for any enquiries you can contact intimacy@doubleact.tv.

According to The Mirror, if you’re successful, the next step would then be a one-to-one interview stage before filming is reportedly set to commence in April.

LADbible has contacted Channel 4 for comment.