Former Disney Channel star Ashley Tisdale isn’t holding anything back in a recent essay she wrote for The Cut. In the essay, Tisdale got real about what it’s like being a mother in Hollywood and called out her own former mom friend group, calling it “toxic.”
While Tisdale didn’t name specific women within the essay, she is well known for cutting ties with a group of celebrity mothers, which included a number of major stars, including none other than Meghan Trainor, Hilary Duff, and Mandy Moore.
Tisdale opened up about the pressures of trying to fit in within this group of women, and noted that she struggled with feeling as if she was “not cool enough.”
The actress has two daughters with her husband, Christopher French. They include 4-year-old Jupiter and 1-year-old Emerson.
While she sought community and support through her former friend group, Tisdale instead faced further isolation.
At one point in the essay, she recalled “sitting alone one night after getting [her] daughter to bed … feeling totally lost as to what [she] was doing ‘wrong’ to be left out.”
Tisdale even went as far as to state that she experienced “mean girl” behavior within the group of moms, their treatment toward her causing her to feel “hurt, drained, and left out.
Social media seemingly played a role in these feelings, as Tisdale noted that she would repeatedly see pictures of her former friends hanging out without her, leading her to believe that cliques were forming within the group.
At a certain point, now 40-year-old Tisdale felt that she decided to cut ties with the group altogether.
“This is too high school for me, and I don’t want to take part in it anymore,” she wrote in a group chat to the former friend group.
While Tisdale continues to follow Trainor on social media, she no longer follows Duff or Moore.