Hilary Duff will ''always be family'' with MIKE COMRIE.

The pair - who had been married for four years before calling time on their relationship last year - are keen to keep a friendship going for the sake of their three-year-old son Luca.

She said: ''We care very much for each other. We're really good friends. We're always going to be a family. There was no other option... I look back with love ...

''You have to be a big person. We have fun together and hang out all the time. The press would say we're getting back together because we spend time together. It's tough living your life in the public.''

Despite the pair's close friendship, the 27-year-old singer was happy to open up about their split on her new album.

She shared to USA TODAY: ''I just started writing [music] again and I hadn't been writing in years. I guess I felt like I had stuff to say ... I'm very personal on the record. All I can do is write about things I know and feel, or sing about them.

''[Brave Heart] is very personal to me. It's about my relationship. It's about taking a step into the unknown. Not knowing if it's the right thing or the wrong thing but being brave enough to make a choice and stick with it.''