Hilary Duff says it 'feels weird' not to be with daughter Mae, 1, who's sick with hand, foot and mouth disease

Hilary Duff is opening up about her daughter’s bout with hand, foot and mouth disease.

In a Thursday Instagram post, the How I Met Your Father actress revealed that her and husband Matthew Koma’s 15-month-old daughter Mae is suffering from the illness, which often causes mouth sores as well as a rash, fever and red spots reminiscent of pox. The disease is highly contagious and while there are no treatments, it usually lasts about a week. Symptoms can be managed with fever reducers and pain-relieving medications.

“Well, Mae-Mae has hand foot mouth, and none of my kids have had hand foot mouth so I’ve never seen it before, and it looks awful,” Duff said in her post. “I haven’t been there all day because I’m at work and I love my job so much. This is just a shout out to working parents who have to leave their kids at times that don’t feel natural, and it kind of goes against everything in your body not to be with them in times like that.”

She added, “I’m sitting here feeling sorry for myself basically, but you’re doing a good job, just like I’m doing a good job working for my family. But, poor little baby. And all of this feels so weird not to be with her.”

Duff, who is also mom to Luca, 10, and Banks, 3, has long been open about the challenges of being a working mom in Hollywood. That includes deciding when to share their moments on social media and navigating mom shamers, she told Yahoo Life in Feb. 2021.

“I’m so used to dodging the comments or the judgment, that I don't realize,” Duff explained at the time. “Like, you just get a tough skin and you don't realize how much it actually affects you. But it's really frustrating because no matter who you are, your kids are your proudest accomplishment. Like I post them all the time [on social media] — but guess what? It's my right to post them, because they're my kids. What's not right is, like, a paparazzi hounding them at a sports game when they're just being normal kids. That's not OK. And people are like, ‘Well you post them.’ Well, yeah. They're my kids to post. So I don't understand the other side of that argument.”

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