In early January, Ashley Tisdale wrote an essay in The Cut calling out members of her former mom group for their “mean-girl” behavior. Everyone immediately figured out that she was talking about Hilary Duff, Mandy Moore, Meghan Trainor, and a bunch of other wealthy, non-famous women. Most sources said the breakup was a “long time coming.” Hilary’s husband, Matthew Koma, shaded Ashley on Instagram, but the other women didn’t make any comments about it beyond a TikTok post from Meghan claiming she had no idea what was going on.
Hilary finally broke her silence in late February, saying that Ashley’s version wasn’t true. In April, Meghan told Us Weekly that she was never really a part of the group and that Ashley had apologized for dragging her into it. Now, it’s Mandy’s turn to speak out. Andy Cohen asked her about it during an interview on Watch What Happens Live to promote her new movie, The Breadwinner. Mandy said the whole ordeal really upset her. She also said that she would have handled it much differently. From People:
“It’s wild to have anybody talk about your life, and I know Hilary [Duff] has sort of mentioned this too. It’s like we both have grown up in this business and had people dissect who we are and the choices we make and all of that, but this was something altogether different and decidedly way more upsetting,” she said. “It just cuts to the core.”
“The most important thing in my life is being a kind person and like that legacy of kindness, and anyone even insinuating that that might not be the case, and with the company that I choose to keep is very upsetting,” she added. “I’d say that was the biggest takeaway, sort of the shock of like, ‘Wow.’”
While she admitted to being “really scared by confrontation,” Moore explained that she’s a “huge proponent” of communication when her feelings are hurt, or she needs to get something off her chest.
“It’s not always like the most comfortable of situations, but I think that’s where I sort of differed in feeling like I wouldn’t have handled the situation this way,” she said. “I think the biggest takeaway from that whole ridiculous debacle … is that I feel like it just sort of it perpetuates this silly trope that women can’t be supportive of one another and that we’re inherently petty and that we’re inherently out to one-up each other, and I have not felt that one iota since becoming a parent.”
“I’ve actually been so surprised by the meaningful relationships I found with other moms and other parents just in general,” she continued. “That has always been my takeaway, and you need that. You need community. You need to find that support wherever you can get it. You need to be able to talk about all of that.”
Mandy’s answer was way better than Hilary’s vague, non-answer. While Ashley has every right to share her feelings, I would have handled the situation differently. No matter how hurt I felt, I wouldn’t put a bunch of famous former friends on blast like that. I also prefer to communicate and am not afraid of confrontation. A reality TV podcast that I like once mentioned that all contestants have some form of “Main Character Syndrome,” where they all think they are the star of the show. That’s totally true in real life, and it’s what happened here. Both sides had issues and drifted apart. Ashley felt she was being left behind and decided to speak out. We’ll never know the full story, but I would still love to know what Hilary thinks “wasn’t true” about what Ashley said.
Photos credit: Jennifer Graylock/Avalon, Faye Sadou/Avalon, Getty Images and via Instagram
