Ashley Tisdale has a lot more to say about that “toxic” celebrity mom group she is no longer a part of!
If you missed it, the High School Musical alum published a shady post on her blog, By Ashley French, back in October, revealing that she ditched her mom group after they started to become cliquey, display “mean-girl behavior,” and exclude her from events. Ick. And she is not done talking about the issue!
Ashley continued to fire shots at her “toxic” mom group in a new scathing essay for The Cut on Thursday. In said piece, the Phineas and Ferb star opened up about how she felt like she found her “village” after having kids, but soon realized that wasn’t the case. And it’s all because her so-called friends started to leave her out of things:
“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. I was starting to feel frozen out of the group, noticing every way that they seemed to exclude me. I told myself it was all in my head, and it wasn’t a big deal. 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 began to feel like she was “not cool enough” with her friends:
“Now it seemed that this group had a pattern of leaving someone out. And that someone had become me. Why me? The truth is, I don’t know and I probably never will. What I do know is that it took me back to an unpleasant but familiar feeling I thought I’d left behind years ago. 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.”
Normally, Ashley said she “would have quietly retreated and avoided confrontation.” But to set a good example for her daughters, she decided to “speak up” for herself and texted the group:
“This is too high school for me and I don’t want to take part in it anymore.”
Wow! Good for her!
Ashley shared that her text “didn’t exactly go over well,” adding:
“Some of the others tried to smooth things over. One sent flowers, then ignored me when I thanked her for them. Another tried to convince me that everyone assumed I’d been invited to gatherings and just hadn’t shown up. Then why didn’t anyone ever ask where I was?, I wondered.”
The He Said She Said singer swore she “never considered the moms to be bad people” — except for “maybe one.” Um, which one?? Spill the tea! Unfortunately, Ashley didn’t get into more details about that comment. However, she said she felt like she needed to cut ties with the group because the “dynamic stopped being healthy and positive.” You can read the entire article HERE.
Ashley did not name names in either piece, but her former friends are some very recognizable faces in the industry! It’s Mandy Moore, Hilary Duff, and Meghan Trainor! All of them were friends for many years, and we saw them, along with their children, constantly hanging out and going on vacations together.
But if you noticed, Ashley didn’t attend a get-together or two toward the end of the year. She also no longer follows Mandy on Instagram. In October, she was following Hilary and Meghan. However, the 40-year-old actress doesn’t follow the Lizzie McGuire alum now. And Hilary doesn’t follow Ashley either. Wow! With all that, it sounds like Ashley is talking about her mom group with those three women. Right?? Well…
The Disney Channel icon says everyone’s got it all wrong! According to TMZ on Monday, her rep denied the rumors, insisting there is no truth to what online “detectives” say and that the article is not about Mandy, Hilary, or Meghan. Hmm. Do you buy that? We mean, come on! She no longer spends time with that group. She doesn’t follow two women. All the signs are there! If it’s not them, then who is it?
And another thing…
Why did the pals start shutting out Ashley? Is there more to the story? She called them “toxic,” but did they feel the same way about her? Or perhaps disagree with her views?
You see, we don’t know the exact timeline of when she fell out with her mom group. Fans online could not help but wonder if her comments about Charlie Kirk’s death and possible Republican views played a part in it, though. Following his assassination, she took to Instagram Stories to say:
“24 years ago feels very different from today. Where we once were united and grieving together as a country, today we see someone die and blame his politics and opinions. Everyone in that building had different views and opinions, when we stop caring about loss of life we are done.”
Ashley, of course, faced a lot of backlash online. She then took to IG Stories again to clarify where she stands, saying:
“It shouldn’t be controversial to say this, but even when we disagree or find someone’s views offensive, violence is never the answer. And to be clear, I stand for equal rights for everyone — women’s rights, voting rights, LGBTQ+ rights. Everyone. I also support protecting reproductive rights and implementing common-sense gun laws.”
Some people still believe she is fully a Republican, however, and questioned if that is really what caused the distance with her friend group. To that, Ashley’s rep told TMZ it’s not true, noting she is a registered Democrat.
What are your thoughts, Perezcious readers? Do you believe Ashley Tisdale? Let us know in the comments!
[Image via Ashley Tisdale/Mandy Moore/Hilary Duff/Instagram]
