Tisdale Exits ‘Toxic’ Celebrity Parent Circle After Years of Exclusion

By Zoe Papadakis | Wednesday, 07 January 2026 01:20 PM EST

Ashley Tisdale, the actor and singer who rose to fame as a Disney Channel star, said she left a celebrity mom group after feeling increasingly excluded. In a recent personal essay published in The Cut, she described the environment as unhealthy.

The decision followed months of feeling sidelined within a group of high-profile mothers formed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tisdale shares two daughters, Jupiter French, 4, and Emerson French, 1, with her husband, composer Christopher French.

Tisdale previously detailed the situation in a post on her lifestyle blog, where she described leaving what she characterized as a “toxic” celebrity parent circle. Although she did not name the women involved, the group has been reported to include Hilary Duff, Mandy Moore and Meghan Trainor.

According to Tisdale, the group was formed by a mutual friend and included several women who had recently become mothers. The group initially bonded while raising young children during the pandemic.

Tisdale described how she felt a sense of belonging and inspiration from being surrounded by working mothers balancing careers and family life. She wrote: “By the time we started getting together for playdates and got the group chat going, I was certain that I’d found my village.”

Over time, however, she said she noticed she was being left out of gatherings and conversations. Initially, she dismissed the feeling, but the distance became harder to ignore.

“During the early days of the group, there was another mom who often wasn’t included,” Tisdale wrote. “Now it seemed that this group had a pattern of leaving someone out. And that someone had become me.”

Tisdale said she eventually addressed the issue directly in a text message to the group, writing: “‘This is too high school for me, and I don’t want to take part in it anymore.'”

Tisdale stated that some members tried to address the issue, but the situation did not change. She added: “I’m not in high school anymore. I’m a mom—and it’s because I’m a mom that I couldn’t stay quiet.”

She said her decision to speak up was prompted by the hope that it could set an example for her children.