How Hilary Duff & Mandy Moore Reacted to Ashley Tisdale’s 'Toxic’ Mom Group Essay (Report)

Ashley Tisdale opened up about leaving a “toxic” mom group in an essay for The Cut, and some fans believed she may have been talking about other celebrities, like Hilary Duff and Mandy Moore.

Tisdale had previously appeared in photos with the actresses on social media, but later unfollowed them.

While Tisdale’s rep told TMZ the essay was not about the stars, an Us Weekly source is sharing how Duff and Moore reacted to the piece.

“They all feel blindsided and hurt by Ashley speaking out the way she did,” the insider said of the circle of friends. “From their perspective, they believed the group was supportive and coming from a good place, and they never thought there was any bad intent behind how things played out.”

The source claimed that “issues that could’ve been handled privately were instead made public, which made them feel unfairly portrayed.”

The insider continued, “The moms insist there was no ‘mean girl’ behavior and say they were genuinely trying to be there for one another during a really vulnerable time in all of their lives.”

In her essay, Ashley wrote about seeing on Instagram that she had been left out of some group activities and could “sense a growing distance between me and the other members.”

She sent a text to the group saying it was feeling “too high school,” and that “didn’t exactly go over well."

Tisdale continued, “Some of the others tried to smooth things over. One sent flowers, then ignored me when I thanked her for them… To be clear, I have never considered the moms to be bad people. (Maybe one.) But I do think our group dynamic stopped being healthy and positive — for me, anyway.”

None of the stars have replied to Us Weekly’s request for comment.

After the essay went viral, Duff’s husband Matthew Koma shaded Ashley on Instagram Stories.

Koma roasted the actress by Photoshopping himself into one of her images from The Cut and including the headline, "When You're The Most Self Obsessed Tone Deaf Person On Earth, Other Moms Tend To Shift Focus To Their Actual Toddlers.”

He included the subhead, "A Mom Group Tell All Through A Father's Eyes.”

Matthew added, "Read my new interview with @TheCut.”

Afterward, Mandy showed love for Matthew on her Stories. 

Koma had shared a video of Moore performing “Candy” at a benefit concert. She re-shared it to her Stories, writing, “This feels incredibly fitting as @matthewkoma happens to be one [of] the most talented and generous humans I’m lucky to know (he literally gave my family a place to stay one year ago today when we evacuated). Love you, MB!!”