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Hilary Duff got the crowd screaming when she brought out her ex, Joel Madden, and his band Good Charlotte during her Madison Square Garden concert on Wednesday night.
The unexpected appearance came two decades after Duff and Madden dated. The former couple were tabloid fixtures during their romance, which ran from 2004 - 2006.
Madden, 47, and Duff, 38, have remained on good terms in the intervening years, and now even hang out with their respective spouses.
Madden has been with Nicole Richie, 44, for almost 20 years. They first met and started dating in late 2006 not long after his breakup from Duff.
The rocker and Richie welcomed daughter Harlow in 2008 and son Sparrow a year later before tying the knot in December 2010.
Meanwhile, Duff wed Matthew Koma in December 2019, four years after meeting during a studio session for her album Breathe In, Breathe Out.
Hilary Duff - seen on May 25 in Las Vegas - got the crowd screaming on Wednesday night when she brought out her ex, Joel Madden, and Good Charlotte during her Madison Square Garden concert for a surprise appearance
The exes and longtime friends performed a nostalgic rendition of the band's 2002 hit The Anthem, as seen in fan footage
They welcomed their first child, Violet Banks, in 2018 and had two more daughters, Mae James in 2021 and Townes Meadow in 2022. Duff also has a son, Luca, 14, with first husband, for NHL player Mike Comrie.
Duff kicked off her The Lucky Me Tour on June 21 in West Palm Beach, Florida, and in September will cross the pond to Europe and then New Zealand and Australia in October before wrapping it up in Mexico in February 2027.
Koma has been traveling on the road with Duff and their children, though not as a performer. But during her breaks he has been joining Good Charlotte on stage, filling in as a guest guitarist and backup vocalist.
The Lizzie McGuire alum spoke about camaraderie the two couples share during an episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in 2023.
'I have a good relationship with their whole family,' Duff told Cohen. 'We actually hang out all the time. I was just in [Nicole's] driveway, honking for her to come drink wine with us the other day… Now, we get them to hike together all the time. And you know what? It’s lovely.'
Back in 2007, Madden opened up to People about his relationship with Duff post-split.
The reunion on stage marked Duff and Madden's close, long-standing friendship and mutual support two decades after their split
They were a hot news item when they dated from 2004 to 2006 and still are judging by the crowd's reaction
The singer-actress looked fetching in an oversized white tee over baggy beige trousers that matched Madden's streetwear style perfectly
'Every girl I’ve ever dated I have respect for, and I always try to leave them [on] good terms,' he told the outlet. 'I don't see the necessity to be friends with anyone you've dated but definitely out of respect of the time, you have to be kind of respectful and that's what I try to do.
'I kind of ignored it and tried to just continue to live my life,' Madden added at the time. 'People can say or think whatever they want, so in my reality, it's kind of irrelevant. I'm always the kind of person that does the right thing and keeps my side of the street clean.'
Duff's on-stage reunion with Madden comes on the heels of her admission that she considers it a 'badge of honor' that she was a part of so many people's childhoods.
She became a household name thanks to her role as the titular Lizzie McGuire in the series which ran from 2001 to 2004.
Duff also launched her music career in 2002 - with the Christmas album Santa Claus Lane, followed by 2004 record Hilary Duff and 2007's Dignity - meaning that numerous adults nowadays tell her what an important part she played while they were growing up.
'I hear that a lot from people, [that I was an important part of their childhood], and I wear a badge of honor,' she recently told People.
She regularly delights fans as she performs her older tracks including So Yesterday and Come Clean as part of her set list on tour.
She even belts out What Dreams are Made Of, from Lizzie McGuire, and said of performing the tunes: 'What’s been so fun about the live shows is realizing how much the old songs mean to people.
'I have a good relationship with their whole family. We actually hang out all the time,' Duff said of the couple's friendship
'Every girl I’ve ever dated I have respect for, and I always try to leave them [on] good terms,' Madden told People in a 2007 interview; pictured with Duff during their dating days in 2005
'A lot of those songs just live rent-free in my head, so it'll be nice for the other music to catch up and join the mix.
'It’s this very cool way to connect in our lives now — everyone's grown up, and we feel like we have a lot of the same life experiences. It's like more real-world s***, and it’s fun to mix those two together.'
She added to The Hollywood Reporter: 'It’s exciting to me when they're scream-singing the new stuff back to me as much as they do the old stuff.
'The show for me feels like a very big celebration that’s representative of my present self and celebrating an important part of my life, which is my past. When I first met everyone. And that naturally is the nostalgic element that feels emotional for people.'
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