Hilary Duff i Mandy Moore wish for this Ashley Tisdale French she didn’t go public with her issues in her now-viral essay about leaving behind a group of “toxic” mothers.
“Everyone is feeling blindsided and hurt because Ashley is speaking out the way she did,” a source exclusively says. Us Weekly from the circle of friends. “From their perspective, they believed the group was supportive and coming from a good place, and they never thought there was any bad intent behind the way things went.”
The source notes that the group felt “issues that could have been dealt with privately were made public, which made them feel unfairly portrayed.”
“The moms insist there was no ‘mean girl’ behavior and say they were really just trying to be there for each other during a really vulnerable time in all of their lives,” the source shares.
Ashley Tisdale French’s no-holds-barred comment about being kicked out of a “toxic” mom group has caught the attention of many celebrities. In January 2026, Ashley, who shares two daughters with husband Christopher French, raised eyebrows with an essay for The Cut titled “Breaking Up With My Toxic Mom Group” as she candidly (…)
Us Weekly reached out to the teams at Duff, Moore and French for comment.
Although she did not reveal any names, French, 40, made headlines on Jan. 1 with her essay for the cutin which he wrote about feeling excluded by a group of mothers in California (The Musical Baccalaureate The star shares daughters Jupiter, 4, and Emerson, 15 months, with her husband Christopher French.)
“I remember being left out of a couple of group uploads and I knew about it because Instagram made sure to feed me every Instagram photo and story,” she wrote in the article. “I was starting to feel frozen out of the group, noticing all the aspects that seemed to exclude me.”
She continued, “I told myself it was all in my head, and it wasn’t a big deal. However, I could feel a growing distance between me and the other members of the group, who didn’t even seem to care that I wasn’t very close.”
Ashley explained that she was later banned from another outing and messaged that the group felt “too secondary” for her, which “didn’t exactly go over well”.
Haylie Duff has been embroiled in the drama surrounding Ashley Tisdale French’s essay about “toxic” moms’ groups. Us Weekly can confirm that Duff, 40, “liked” a joint Instagram post from both French, 40, and The Cut promoting an essay detailing the High School Musical star’s experience with a group of friends. “LEAVE YOUR TOXIC FRIENDS (…)
“Some of the others tried to smooth things over,” Ashley wrote. “One sent flowers, then ignored me when I thanked her. . . . To be clear, I’ve never considered moms to be bad people. (Maybe one.) But I think our group dynamic stopped being healthy and positive, for me, anyway.”
As news of the story circulated, social media users began speculating that Ashley was referring to her friendships with Duff, 38, Moore, 41, and other celebrities.
days later, Ashley’s rep denied the rumors. The rep also claimed in a statement to TMZ on Monday, January 5 that Ashley hoped to highlight an issue that other women and mothers could relate to.
Duff’s husband, Matthew, however, he continued weigh in the essay by promoting your own fake article with the cut
“A group of moms tells it through the eyes of a dad,” Koma, 38, wrote via her Instagram story on Tuesday, January 6. “When you’re the most obsessed tone-deaf person on earth, other moms tend to focus on their little ones.”
That same day, Ashley’s husband Christopher, 44, shared one apparently pointed cryptic quote via her Instagram story, which read, “It’s your choice whether you want to participate or not.”