Hilary Duff has broken her silence on Ashley Tisdale French’s viral essay published in The Cut last year, where she opened up about her former celebrity mom group, whom she called “toxic.”
While the High School Musical alum did not name any of the celebrity mothers directly, she was previously photographed in a group that included Duff, Mandy Moore, and Meghan Trainor.
During Wednesday’s episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, host Alex Cooper asked Duff directly about the controversy.
“I felt really sad. I honestly felt really sad,” Duff said about her feelings when she first saw the essay. “I was, like, pretty, pretty taken aback and felt just, like, sad.”
The former Disney Channel star said motherhood has brought many new friendships into her life and added that she disagreed with the claims made in the essay.
“So I think I just was like, ‘Woah,’” Duff said. “It sucks to read something that’s, like, not true. And it sucks on behalf of, like, six women in all of their lives.”
The Independent has reached out to Tisadle's representatives for comment.
Following the release of the essay, Duff’s husband, Matthew Koma, came to his wife’s defense, posting a fake magazine cover of himself, with the headline: “A mom group tell all through a father’s eyes: When You’re the Most Self-Obsessed Tone Deaf Person on Earth, Other Moms Tend to Shift Focus To Their Actual Toddlers.”
He added in a sarcastic caption: “Read my new interview with @thecut.”
The Lizzie McGuire alum said during the podcast that she had no idea her husband was going to share anything about the drama. “Honestly, everything he does makes me laugh. So I was like, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God,’” she said.
“But I also don't censor him, and I don't tell him what he can and can't post. He is so, like, fierce for me, and, like, I love him for that.”
In the essay, Tisdale — who shares two children with music composer Christopher French — wrote that she felt as though she had “found a village” in her mom group after the birth of her daughter Jupiter in 2021.
However, she claimed the dynamic later soured, alleging she was “frozen out” and “excluded” before recognizing what she described as high school–style behavior within the group. She wrote: “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.”
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