Ashley Tisdale Toxic Mom Group Essay Explained: Hilary Duff, Mandy Moore

If the point was to prove that Ashley Tisdale was wrong when she compared her former mom group to a high school clique, her critics may have missed the mark.

The High School Musical alum first wrote about distancing herself from a coterie of fellow mothers in December, explaining in an entry on her site By Ashley French that she didn’t think the group had turned toxic “because the moms themselves are toxic people, but because the dynamic shifts into an ugly place with mean-girl behavior.” 

The post, titled “You’re Allowed to Leave Your Mom Group,” didn’t call out any alleged Regina George types by name. Nor did her follow-up on the subject that was published on The Cut Jan. 1, “Breaking Up With My Toxic Mom Group.”

But because Tisdale—who shares daughters Jupiter, 4, and Emerson, 16 months, with husband David French—had been seen in photos hanging out with fellow famous moms Mandy Moore, Hilary Duff and Meghan Trainor, online sleuths were quick to conclude that they played a role in her i.

Or at least it was assumed they were members of this “village of moms” who’d gone from “lifeline to landmine,” as Tisdale described the situation, that made her feel shunned.