Ashley French’s Friend-Group Drama Is Unbearably Normal

Celebrity drama is supposed to be lurid and glamorous. People go through high-profile divorces or they feud with their co-stars while making an expensive movie. Their drama is supposed to be, in some ways, better than our own, giving us normies something to latch on to during the mundanity of our lives. Perhaps that’s why whatever’s going on with Ashley French’s (née Tisdale) mom group is so compelling: It could happen to any of us. Late last year, French made it a point to announce she was leaving her “toxic mom group.” Friend groups rise and fall all the time. Some groups are linked by childhood proximity, others by education, but even more by the bond of parenthood. Cliques are notoriously difficult and hard to maintain, therefore it’s no great surprise that a group of friends that consists of four celebrity moms — let alone four people in general — dissolved. What’s most remarkable here is that French won’t stop posting about it.

Wait, sorry, who is Ashley French?

Ashley French is Ashley Tisdale’s — of High School Musical fame — married name.

And who are … or were … her celeb friends?

Notable figures in her mom group included Mandy Moore, Hilary Duff, and Meghan Trainor along with slightly less well-known figures like cookbook author Gaby Dalkin, makeup artist Kelsey Deenihan, clothing designer Samii Ryan, and breast-pump-company founder Janice Gott. Duff told People how great it was to have a group of celebrity-mom friends. “I feel like our big connection to one another, even though we’re pop stars or on TV, is we love our kids,” she said back in 2024. French is also longtime friends with Austin Butler, but given his lack of children and not being a mom, he was not in the mom group.

So what happened between then and now?

We don’t know!!! Moore, Duff, and Trainor have not yet addressed the situation. 

Okay, fine, what do we know?

Things had started going awry last fall. Journalist and Duff expert Allie Jones spotted cracks in the friendship group in one of French’s TikTok posts from late October 2025 in which she warned her followers that “mom groups can become toxic” and encouraged people to “walk away” from social situations where they feel “drained instead of seen.” Despite the ominous warning, French’s TikTok is mostly framed as a form of self-care. It’s not mean-spirited or “dramatic” to walk out of a bad situation, simply honest.

Since then, however, French wrote twice on the topic: once on her personal blog, By Ashley French, in a piece aptly titled “You’re Allowed to Leave Your Mom Group,” and again for The Cut, slightly more provocatively titled “Breaking Up With My Toxic Mom Group.” In both pieces, French alludes to instances in which she saw on social media that she was being left out of some social gatherings and that she learned there were text threads that emerged without her on them. “Why me? The truth is, I don’t know and I probably never will,” she confessed on The Cut.

Why do people think that French might have been left out?

People on Reddit have speculated that French has slightly more conservative views than other members in the group, citing a post she made after Charlie Kirk’s death. French, however, has previously supported Democratic candidates for office.

Okay, so we don’t know her politics. Who is the mean mom in the group?

French wisely puts the blame on “mean girl behavior” and group dynamics and is careful not to single out any particular mom in question. In Jones’s own investigation into the drama, she noted French unfollowed both Moore and cookbook writer Dalkin. Could one of those two have spearheaded the effort against French? Maybe, but part of what’s refreshing about French’s ongoing press tour about quitting the group is her insistence that stepping away from this situation isn’t actually a bad thing. One (or more) of these moms might be mean. French might be mean. That doesn’t mean any of these people are obligated to hang out with one another because they’re all famous. 

Have any of the other moms responded?

Ryan, the designer, reposted a video on her Instagram of a man lip-syncing the lyrics “I don’t care if these bitches don’t like me,” from the Megan Thee Stallion song “Her.” Ryan captioned the video with “2026 mood.” “Page Six” thinks this could be about French … but it could also be about, well, something else, like a rude barista at her local coffee shop.

Have any of the dads responded?

Yes! On January 6, Hilary Duff’s husband Matthew Koma posted an Instagram story with a photoshopped The Cut cover story featuring a photo of himself and a drummed up headline that said, “When You’re The Most Self Obsessed Tone Deaf On Earth, Other Moms Tend To Shift Their Focus To Their Actual Toddlers.” Talk about saying the quiet part out loud!

Have any unrelated moms responded?

Jenna Bush Hager took issue with French’s decision to air this out in public on Today With Jenna & Friends. “Good for her for telling her truth, but I also think private conversations are more and more important — speaking your truth to the people that have hurt you should be enough,” she told guest co-host Matt Rogers.

How did Matt Rogers respond?

Trick question — he’s not a mom, so it doesn’t matter. 

Maybe more famous people should hang out with non-famous people?

I agree. 

Are French and Butler still friends?

Hope so!!

This post has been updated with Matthew Koma’s post on January 7.