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‘How I Met Your Father’ Co-Stars Josh Peck, Hilary Duff Discuss Judaism, Celebrating Jewish Holidays
by Shiryn Ghermezian
Hilary Duff and Josh Peck speaking on the “Good Guys” podcast. Photo: Screenshot
Jewish actor Josh Peck and his longtime friend, singer and actress Hilary Duff, discussed their relationship to Judaism and their spouses’ embrace of Jewish culture during an interview last week on Peck’s podcast.
Peck and Duff started their acting careers as child television stars in the early 2000s. Duff, 35, had her breakout role in Disney Channel’s Lizzie McGuire, starring as the title character, while Peck, 36, was one half of Drake & Josh and also starred in The Amanda Show on Nickelodeon. The two now star together in How I Met Your Father.
Duff, who is not Jewish, joined Peck on his podcast Good Guys to talk about their similar start in the entertainment industry, among other topics, but began by first dissecting Judaism.
“I did kind of marry a bad Jew,” the mother-of-three told Peck and Good Guys co-host, influencer Ben Soffer, about her husband, Jewish musician Matthew Koma. “Because we don’t celebrate any of the holidays and I thought that was just like part of the deal. I still have to walk over to my neighbor’s house to celebrate any of the fun holidays with all the food dishes.”
Soffer then said he notices that those who marry Jews “end up becoming more Jewish than the person they married,” and Duff replied, “I like that for me.”
Peck later told Duff that when he hears his wife, cinematographer Paige O’Brien, speak Yiddish, “I can just feel my ancestors clapping because it’s so wonderful to just hear it roll off the tongue.” He added about his wife, who he has two sons with, “I remember when she first met she would come hang out with friends of mine and she’d be like ‘you Jews, when you get together, you love to talk about being Jewish.’ And I said, ‘Yes! It’s a major topic.’ And now here she is — she threw a Hanukkah party [recently].”
Soffer also told Duff it’s great that she’s “a fan of the Jews” because “Josh and I often talk about the fact that there are far too many people that are not.” He additionally joked that even if she was interested in converting, a “quick conversation” to Judaism “doesn’t exist, it’s a very rigorous process.”
Listen to the full interview in the video below.
