While being famous goes hand-in-hand with plenty of glitz and glamour, having an A-lister status isn't all fun and games. In fact, being a celebrity can sometimes be completely and utterly terrifying, with the paparazzi relentlessly stalking your every move.
One star who knows this all too well is Hilary Duff, who recently took a stand against a male photographer who she claimed "hunted" her.
The 30-year-old actress - who is currently nine months pregnant with her second child, fathered by boyfriend Matthew Koma - took to social media yesterday to call out the guilty pap, who had allegedly followed her around while she ran errands with her young son, Luka.
A video of the incident, posted by the former Lizzie McGuire star, sees Hilary - who claimed to have the flu - plead with the male photographer, telling him: "I’m nine months pregnant, I have the flu and I’ve asked you once to leave me alone. Can you please stop taking my picture? You’re, like, hunting me down."
She continues: "I’m just asking you to please leave me alone for the day. You’ve like hunted me. I feel very uncomfortable, please leave a pregnant woman alone."
Despite her angry, yet still polite, appeals to the unidentified man's better nature, the photographer in question appears to not care.
In the footage, he shrugs and tells Hilary: "I lost a whole morning and didn't get no photos". The actress replies "It’s not my fault, please leave me alone it’s the weekend, sir".
In her caption on Instagram, the Raise Your Voice star elaborated on the extent of the "stalking", writing that the pap had followed her all day long.
"This guy has been at my sons soccer game this morning then followed me to my sisters house and was basically parked in her drive way to get photos," she wrote "Followed me to run errands. I politely asked him to let me be and he continues to follow and stalk me down like pray for hours now. This is not ok. I am 9 months pregnant."
In addition, she slammed those who may claim that she deserves this type of treatment because she's famous, stating they made her "sick".
"When people say that’s what you get for signing up to be a celebrity it honestly makes me sick. This is every day of every month and it’s simply not ok. If a non 'celeb' (I’m sorry to use that word) was dealing with this the law would be involved," she wrote.
The 30-year-old's followers on social media were equally as outraged about the incident, with many of them flooding the comment section with words of support.
"Some people are just disgusting, just because you are a celebrity doesn't mean you dont get privacy or human rights and your dignity. Hopefully things will get better," put an Instagrammer going by the username of @darckratos.
Another Instagram user named @lainey.parker agreed, writing: "That is bull crap. Honestly think that everyone treats celebs like they are not human . This is some behavior the public NEEDS to address . When kids are also involved that is so sick. If you don't approve then they should have to leave or go to jail."
Well done to Hilary for making a stand, it can't have been easy. Let's hope the paparazzi lay off her and realise that celebrities are people too.
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