Ashley Tisdale’s Rep Clarifies Her “Toxic” Mom Group Essay
Fans speculated Hilary Duff, Mandy Moore, and Meghan Trainor were part of the crew.
Ashley Tisdale shared all the details after leaving behind her “toxic” mom group. In a personal essay, which she originally shared on her blog in October and later published by The Cut in January, Tisdale explained why she exited the friend group — which reports indicated included Hilary Duff, Mandy Moore, and Meghan Trainor. Now, however, Tisdale’s rep is quashing the rumors.
In the essay, Tisdale wrote candidly about her complicated experience with a mothers group. “After the birth of my first daughter, I was craving connection with other mothers,” she wrote. It started as a safe place to discuss the logistics of motherhood, but later went deeper. “I needed to talk to someone else who related to what I was going through: the mood swings, the late nights, saying good-bye to who I used to be and getting to know my daughter and the new person I was becoming.”
“I felt a sense of belonging,” she wrote. “By the time we started getting together for playdates and got the group chat going, I was certain that I’d found my village.”
However, things took a turn when she started getting excluded from group get-togethers. “I remember being left out of a couple of group hangs, and I knew about them because Instagram made sure it fed me every single photo and Instagram Story,” she wrote. “I was starting to feel frozen out of the group, noticing every way that they seemed to exclude me.”
Eventually, Tisdale decided to leave the group, sending them all a message: “This is too high school for me and I don’t want to take part in it anymore.”
Though Tisdale did not share details of the mom group in her essay, old Instagram posts hinted at who was in the inner circle — including Duff, Moore, and Trainor. Back in August 2022, Tisdale, Duff, Trainor, and other members of the crew all went on a moms weekend getaway. Moore wasn’t there, but she was clearly invited. Duff captioned one post, “Just a couple of moms on a good night sleep …… love you girls thanks for the unwind/recharge we missed you @mandymooremm.”
Tisdale no longer follows Duff or Moore on Instagram, but she still follows Trainor.
On Jan. 5, Tisdale’s rep spoke to TMZ about the rumored celeb-studded friend group. According to the rep, the essay was not about Duff, Moore, or Trainor. They added that it was “unfortunate” that her personal essay was “twisted into clickbait.” Additionally, her rep denied rumors that the fallout had to do with Tisdale’s political affiliations. Some online rumors assumed that the former Disney star supported Donald Trump, isolating her from the rest of the group. Per Tisdale’s rep, that’s not true — plus, Tisdale is a registered Democrat.
