What you need to know
Ashley Tisdale French is prioritizing self-care amid ongoing drama surrounding her “toxic” mom group after her essay in The Cut went viral.
In a series of posts to her Instagram Stories, Tisdale, 40, shared a selfie of herself lying on a massage table enjoying a spa day on Tuesday, January 13.
“Unreal! Thank you @sarachase for the best treat,” the High School Musical alum wrote above the selfie. “Little massage and facial day,” she captioned an Instagram Story post.
The next slide shows the sun peeking through linen curtains and a room with a bonsai tree, a jute rug, and a series of singing bowls often used in meditation practices.
The spa day comes amid the continuing fallout from Tisdale’s essay “The Cut,” titled “Farewell to a Toxic Mom Group.” The mother of two first opened up about the experience in December 2025 in a candid blog post titled “I’m Allowed to Leave Mommy Group.”
“When I became a mom, I wanted connection as much as I wanted sleep. So I did what a lot of people do: I joined a mom group,” Tisdale wrote in a viral post in December. “But this is something no one prepared me for. Mom groups can be toxic, not because moms themselves are toxic people, but because the power dynamics shift to ugly places with mean girl behavior. I know this from personal experience.”
Ashley Tisdale/Instagram
In January, Tisdale expanded on this post in an essay for The Cut. She made the women in her former friend group anonymous, instead framing the experience as a reminder that it was okay to walk away from relationships that no longer felt healthy.
“If a mom group always makes you feel hurt, drained, or left out, it’s not the mom group for you,” she wrote. “Choosing distance doesn’t mean being mean or critical; it allows you to be true to yourself. It’s also worth remembering that, like all relationships, friendships have seasons.”
Since Tisdale published her story in The Cut, several members of the alleged “toxic” mothers group have spoken out. Hilary Duff’s husband Matthew Koma criticized Tisdale’s essay in a Jan. 6 Instagram Story post, in which he called Tisdale “the most self-obsessed tone-deaf person on the planet.” Duff was allegedly a member of a mom group that was the subject of a Phineas and Ferb alumni essay.
Ashley Tisdale/Instagram
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Meghan Trainor, another alleged member of the group, has also spoken out several times and continues to insist that she is not involved in any drama. Traynor, 32, shared a TikTok video on Monday, January 12th. In it, she lip-synced a popular scene from Season 5 of Stranger Things, where Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) tries to convince a group of kids that her imaginary friend Mr. Watshit is really a monster. “Come on, you have to believe in me! Please, you have to believe in me, you have to believe in me,” the voice says.
“I’m still trying to convince everyone I’m not in on the mom group drama,” the “Still Don’t Care” singer wrote in the video.
“I swear I’m innocent,” Trainor added in the caption.
