Dissecting Ashley Tisdale, Hilary Duff's 'toxic mom group' controversy
What's the story
A public feud involving former Disney Channel stars Ashley Tisdale and Hilary Duff, has taken the internet by storm. The drama started when Tisdale wrote a personal essay for The Cut titled Breaking Up With My Toxic Mom Group. In her essay, she spoke about feeling excluded from a group of friends she had formed to discuss motherhood.
Details
Tisdale felt excluded, 'frozen out of the group'
In her essay, Tisdale wrote she was "starting to feel frozen out of the group, noticing every way that they seemed to exclude me." She recalled being omitted from group hangouts and feeling like an outsider at dinner parties. Tisdale felt like she was back in high school, thus deciding to leave the group. Although she didn't name anyone, netizens speculated that her "toxic mom group" included Duff, actor Mandy Moore, singer Meghan Trainor, and other high-profile Los Angeles women.
Response
Duff's husband decided to confirm things by replying to Tisdale
Duff's husband, musician Matthew Koma responded to Tisdale's essay on Tuesday by posting a photo of himself on Instagram Stories, edited to look like Tisdale's photo from her essay cover. The fake headline read When You're The Most Self Obsessed Tone Deaf Person On Earth, Other Moms Tend To Shift Focus To Their Actual Toddlers. He captioned the post with "Read my new interview with @TheCut," effectively confirming netizens were right about the people in the group.
Past
Tisdale's previous blog post on 'toxic mom group'
This isn't the first time Tisdale has spoken about her "toxic mom group." In December 2025, she wrote a blog post titled You're Allowed to Leave Your Mom Group under her married name, Ashley French. The post had also sparked a conversation on social media. While the High School Musical star is mother to Jupiter and Emerson, the Lizzie McGuire actor has three daughters with Koma, and a son with ex-husband Mike Comrie.