Former Disney stars Ashley Tisdale-French and Hilary Duff’s very public feud continues to escalate, with their husbands adding fuel to the fire by weighing in on the drama.
It all started with Ashley, 40, airing her grievances over being excluded by her mum group in an essay written for The Cut on January 1.
The mum-of-two detailed the “ugly” behaviour of her fellow mums, calling the group “toxic” and likening their behaviour to being back in high school.
The essay that started it all
“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,” Ashley wrote in her essay.
She added that she began to “feel frozen out” and excluded. “I told myself it was all in my head, and it wasn’t a big deal,” she began.
“And yet, I could sense a growing distance between me and the other members of the group, who seemed to not even care that I wasn’t around much.”
She continued that the group didn’t turn toxic “because the mums themselves are toxic people, but because the dynamic shifts into an ugly place with mean-girl behaviour”.
“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,” she added.
The husbands weigh in on the drama
While Ashley didn’t explicitly single anyone out, rumours ran rampant that she was referring to fellow stars Hilary Duff, 38, and Mandy Moore, 41.
Internet sleuths quickly determined that the women – who have been pictured with Ashley on numerous holidays and outings – are no longer followed on social media by the star.
The rumours were seemingly confirmed when Hilary’s husband Matthew Koma, 38, got involved.
On January 7, the musician posted a photo to Instagram mocking Ashley’s The Cut image.
He captioned it, “When you’re the most self-obsessed, tone-deaf person on earth, other mums tend to shift their focus to their actual toddlers.”
Ashley’s husband Christopher French, 44, fired back with his own subtle retort, citing, “Underrated life skill: Pausing to decide if it’s worth your energy.”
The ‘mums’ respond
Several of Ashley’s former mum group pals have since shared their thoughts on the topic, seemingly taking a stand against Ashley.
Mum-of-four Hilary took to Instagram on January 8 to show just how unbothered she was, dancing around as she lip-synched to her new song featuring some very NSFW (Not Suitable for Work) lyrics!
For her part, Mandy – herself a mum-of-three – took to social media to show her support for Hilary’s husband a year after the couple took her family in during the devastating California wildfires.
She gushed that Matthew “happens to be one [of] the most talented and generous humans I’m lucky to know” in response to the musician sharing a video of her performing at a benefit concert.
Singer Meghan Trainor also filmed a TikTok response, making it clear she wasn’t even aware there was a drama to begin with!
“Me finding out about the apparent mum group drama,” she captioned her video, looking bemused, as her track Still Don’t Care played over the top.
Speaking to TMZ, Meghan’s husband, Daryl Sabara, 33, further insisted, “No drama over here, just trying to keep the kids happy. I don’t really know what’s going on. I hope she’s OK though.”
The mystery deepens
Meanwhile, former The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star Crystal Kung Minkoff, 42, has added to the furore – revealing the same thing happened to her.
“I know, probably, 70 per cent of the mum group because we all went to preschool together,” she said. “One went to the same high school as us.”
She added that “everyone’s talking about it” but she didn’t “want to give too much tea about it because it’s their personal stuff”.
“I posted in Threads the other day a joke, like, ‘Oh, this is so 2021 – I already went through this,’” she said, explaining that she was given the boot from the group when she joined RHOBH.
“What I found interesting is that Ashley’s story was that she left the group, and my story is I didn’t leave the groups – they all went against me and dropped me,” she revealed.
Perhaps even more telling is that Hilary’s own sister, Haylie Duff – with whom she’s been estranged for several years – made her stance clear by “liking” Ashley’s post.
