The Ashley Tisdale and Hilary Duff mum group fallout, explained from the very start.

I have something I desperately need to talk about. It's the kind of celebrity beef that gives me oxygen.

It gives me a jolt of serotonin in the morning. It sweetens my coffee. It makes that extra-long meeting that could have been an email a bit more tolerable. It makes me feel alive!

Okay, I'll calm down. So what am I on about?

Okay, so something is going down between Ashley Tisdale, Hilary Duff and Mandy Moore. And no, this is not a story from 2006. This is 2026. Keep up!

Alrighty, there is a lot to digest here, so let us go back to the very beginning…

Last month, Ashley Tisdale (aka Ashley French) outed a 'toxic mother's group' that she dramatically quit. If you haven't thought about the High School Musical actress in a hot minute, then same, but this week, she's all I can think about.

Ashley shares a 16-month-old son, Emerson, with her composer husband, Christopher French. The actress was a member of some mysterious mum-only group, but she won't stick to the status quo any longer.

SHE'S OUTIE. SHARPAY CAN'T STAY.

In an essay 'Breaking Up With My Toxic Mum Group' published by The Cut, she detailed her decision to walk away from a group of friends she described as "toxic".

Tisdale wrote that after the birth of her first daughter in 2021, she was "craving connection with other mothers" and initially felt she had "found her village."

Listen to the hosts of Parenting Out Loud discuss the revelation. Video via post.

Alas, it was all a big lie! The besties 4eva vibe soon shifted into what she described as "mean-girl behaviour" and "regression back to high school bullying."

She claimed she was "frozen out" from group hangouts, which she would then see awkwardly documented on Instagram. She wrote that she was even seated at the far end of a table at a dinner party (the horror!), and found out the group had planned an event during her own daughter's birthday party.

"Here I was sitting alone one night after getting my daughter to bed, thinking, Maybe I'm not cool enough? All of a sudden, I was in high school again, feeling totally lost as to what I was doing 'wrong' to be left out."

Instead of "ghosting" the gang, she decided to confront the group directly. She sent a message to their group chat to tell them: "This is too high school for me, and I don't want to take part in it anymore." Oop!

She will no longer bop to the top! Image: Instagram/@ashleytisdalefrench.

The actress noted that the reaction was mixed, as some tried to smooth things over, another person sent flowers but later ignored Tisdale's reply.

Okay, now let's get to the juicy part.

Tisdale is known for being in a mum group, and that gang includes Hilary Duff, Mandy Moore and Meghan Trainor.

While she didn't name names in the essay, fans noted that Tisdale unfollowed Duff and Moore on Instagram around the same time.

At the time of publishing, Tisdale still doesn't follow Duff or Moore. Meanwhile, Duff doesn't follow Tisdale but Moore still does.

They're all still following Trainor, so let's assume this mum doesn't need to be roped into this mummy mess.

But wait, it just got messier.

Two famous mums seemingly respond to drama.

Now, Meghan Trainor and Mandy Moore have officially entered the chat.

Yesterday, Trainor posted a video on TikTok addressing all the mummy drama.

Meghan Trainor addressed the mummy drama. Image: TikTok/@meghantrainor

"Me finding out about the apparent mom [sic] group drama," the singer wrote on a video of her looking shocked in front of a computer.

The video was accompanied by Trainor's new single Still Don't Care off her upcoming album Toy with Me.

"☕️☕️☕️ #stilldontcare," the All About That Bass singer wrote in the caption.

Trainor shares two sons with her husband Daryl Sabara, who also addressed the beef.

"No drama over here, just trying to keep the kids happy, you know?" he told TMZ. "I don't really know what's going on. I hope [Tisdale] is OK, though."

Mandy Moore, meanwhile, didn't blatantly address the claims made by Tisdale, but she did show her support for Duff's husband, Matthew Koma.

After Koma shared a video of Moore performing at a benefit concert one year on from the devastating LA fires, the singer reposted the footage with a gushing message.

Mandy Moore shared a gushing message to Duff's husband. Image: Instagram/@mandymooremm

"This feels incredibly fitting as @matthewkoma happens to be one of the most talented and generous humans I'm lucky to know," she wrote on Instagram.

Moore, who was one of the many celebrities who almost completely lost her home in the fires, went on to say that Koma "gave my family a place to stay one year ago today when we evacuated."

"Love you, MB!!" she ended the post.

Her message comes days after Koma decided to gently light the internet on fire with a cutting Instagram Story not-so-subtly verifying the beef.

He posted a photoshopped image of himself on Ashley's The Cut cover with a mock headline: "When You're The Most Self-Obsessed Tone-Deaf Person On Earth, Other Moms Tend To Shift Focus To Their Actual Toddlers."

Image: Instagram/@matthewkoma.

Not clear enough? He added a sub-headline calling it "A Mom Group Tell All Through A Father's Eyes," essentially confirming the rift between the two families.

Yep, it was a lot. Duff has remained silent on the matter.

Tisdale's husband also sent his own, far softer message. Christopher French posted a series of cryptic Instagram Stories, as one featured a colourful graphic stating, "It's your choice whether or not to engage," followed by another post about the "underrated life skill" of deciding if something is worth your energy.

In a People exclusive, sources around Tisdale and the mum group have shared their side. "Friends naturally drift apart. It didn't warrant a dramatic breakup text," a source said, referencing Tisdale's final text to the group. Oop.

"Ashley put this out there because [she wants people to know] toxic behaviour is not acceptable," stated another source, adding that "this is blowing up in the craziest way."

Meanwhile, Tisdale has tried to separate herself from this spiralling celebrity story.

Representatives for Tisdale told TMZ that the essay was not specifically about the famous trio (Duff, Moore, and Trainor) but rather about an experience with a "completely different group of friends".

But one detail adding fuel to the fire is that fans spotted Haylie Duff had liked the Instagram post promoting Ashley's essay about the toxic group.

Haylie Duff liked Ashley Tisdale’s post about Ashley’s claims she was in a toxic friend group.

Hilary Duff is a member of that friend group.

Hilary and Haylie, once close sisters, have not been photographed together since 2019, leading to speculation of a falling out. pic.twitter.com/IAfMes7Dkv

— MR. POP (@MrPopOfficial) January 6, 2026

Background: Haylie and her sister Hilary have been rumoured to be estranged for years (allegedly due to tension between Haylie and Matthew Koma), so some fans have suggested that this is a public endorsement of Ashley's "mean girl" claims against Hilary's group.

So why were people convinced from the get-go that Tisdale's mum group included the likes of Duff and Moore?

Based on their social media activity, the whole gang frequently spent time together between 2021 and 2024.

Tisdale even went on a highly publicised mums' weekend with the group in August 2022.

The girl gang stayed together at the Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Along with Tisdale, Duff and Trainor, the group was rounded out by other friends, like chef Gaby Dalkin and makeup artist Kelsey Deenihan Fisher.

The gals wore matching white sweatsuits with 'Mother' literally embroidered on the leg, so there could be zero confusion over whether they are/are not mothers. They are! Just look at their left leg!

Image: Instagram/@meghantrainor.

"I have mum friends and I love them!" wrote Trainor on one dedication. I believe you!

Duff shared photos of the trip on Instagram, specifically captioning them: "we missed you @mandymooremm," confirming Mandy Moore was missing the fun but was very much part of this mummy circle.

At the time, Moore was pregnant with her second child and was unable to join the group, but it was clear from the caption that the 'Candy' singer was an integral part of this mum crew.

At the time, Tisdale shared a post from the girly trip, but that has since been deleted.

"I love being surrounded by these ladies. What an amazing group of women to journey through this mum-hood together! So grateful for this trip," the since-deleted caption read.

This wasn't the only time the mums went wild!

In 2021, Duff hosted a 'mummy & me' session with music classes and funky drum beats for, umm, their babies.

On Instagram, she shared a pic of all the mums' babies gathered in some sort of circular ritual which included Moore's son, August, Trainor's son, Riley, plus Tisdale's then-three-month-old daughter, Jupiter.

Image: Instagram/@hilaryduff.

The gals haven't been shy talking about this mum group in the media.

In 2022, Moore spoke about the gang in an interview with InStyle, as she boasted that it was her longtime friend, Duff, who had formed the celebrity mum group.

"Hilary is the coolest and… being the super-mum that she is, formed a cool mum club," Moore said. "Somehow, I got invited into it and it's the best. I've made so many wonderful friends. We all just gathered earlier this week and had dinner and we have baby classes together and it's incredible. It's so much fun."

As recently as 2024, Duff told People that she leans on her mum group "all the time" for support.

"I feel like our big connection to one another, even though we're pop stars or on TV, is we love our kids," Duff said.

"Sometimes we're all showing up with hair and makeup rushing from a job, and sometimes we look like literal trash, so it's just nice to be in the trenches with them."

The People story listed Tisdale as a member of the group.

Okay, got all that? This brings us back to today and the internet has gotten a little silly (me, included).

Basically, all sorts of outlandish theories are abounding over why Tisdale could have had a potential falling out with this celebrity-stuffed group.

There are claims that Tisdale is a Republican and the others were Democrats, plus allegations that she wasn't sympathetic during the LA Fires in 2025, which almost decimated Moore's family home.

To be clear, none of these internet theories are backed by any proof whatsoever. They're more just vibes. But what do we know for sure?

Tisdale's rep has denied to TMZ that Tisdale was a Republican, in fact, they said she is a registered Democrat.

In The Cut essay, Tisdale did acknowledge that her blog post "made wannabe online sleuths try to do some investigating like they're on 'CSI'," but added "please, don't even try — whatever you think is true isn't even close."

Whether we're all just trying to distract ourselves with a wacky celeb story to start the year, or there is a deeper truth to this gossip, Tisdale has made it known that there is no bad blood.

"To be clear, I have never considered the mums to be bad people. (Maybe one.) But I do think our group dynamic stopped being healthy and positive — for me, anyway."

This article was originally published on January 6, 2026 and has since been updated with new information.

Feature image: TikTok/@meghantrainor/Instagram/@ashleytisdalefrench