Mandy Moore is speaking out for the first time about Ashley Tisdale‘s viral mom group essay!
As you may recall, the High School Musical star put her former friend group on blast in an article for The Cut back in January! In it, she revealed she dumped them because they became way too “toxic” after excluding her from gatherings and acting like a bunch of high school mean girls.
Ashley didn’t name names, but the internet quickly determined she was talking about a group of moms she used to hang out with, including Mandy, Hilary Duff, and Meghan Trainor (though she apparently got pushed out of the same friend group). The Lizzie McGuire alum had a lot of thoughts about her fellow Disney Channel star using her and calling her pals out. And now, five months later, Mandy is finally breaking her silence on how she felt about the essay!
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When asked about it on Andy Cohen Live on Monday, the This Is Us alum said:
“It’s wild to have anybody talk about your life and I know Hilary 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 like way more upsetting. The most important thing in my life is being a kind person and 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.”
Mandy felt a lot of “shock” by the situation, especially because she is the type of person who works through problems with another person directly. So she really didn’t appreciate how Ashley handled everything:
“I’m someone who is really scared by confrontation, but also when it’s important, I am a huge proponent and like having a conversation if my feelings are hurt or there’s something I need to get off my chest—face-to-face. It’s not always like the most comfortable of situations, but that’s where I sort of differed in feeling like I wouldn’t have handled the situation this way.”
But what was most hurtful to Mandy? She believes Ashley’s piece just perpetuated a certain “trope” about women:
“It just sort of 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.”
According to Mandy, she has “been so surprised by the meaningful relationships” she has “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.”
Is it safe to say there are no hopes of Mandy and Ashley working it out in the future? Mandy seems really upset by the essay! Even all these months later! Watch the Candy singer address the mom group drama (below):
Thoughts, Perezcious readers? Tell us in the comments!
[Image via The View/SiriusXM/YouTube]
