Ashley Tisdale slams ‘nonstop’ body shaming online
High School Musical alum Ashley Tisdale has aired her dissatisfaction with her weight loss jab in a candid blog post.
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After the dust settles on Ashley Tisdale French’s “Toxic Mother Group” essay, Mandy Moore has finally stepped into the world of the drama that took social media by storm four months ago.
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Although Tisdale-French never revealed the members of this inner circle, social media users speculated that her claims were tied to Moore, Hilary Duff, Meghan Trainor, and others.
“It’s rough to talk to someone about your life, and I know Hilary[Duff]has mentioned that. We both grew up in this industry and it’s like having people dissect who we are and the choices we make,” Moore told Cohen, admitting that she believes Tisdale-French’s post was partially about her.
“But this was something completely different and definitely more upsetting,” she continued.
USA TODAY has reached out to a representative for Tisdale French for comment.
Duff said during a roundtable discussion on Call Her Daddy in February that she was “quite surprised” and found “really sad” by Tisdale-French’s claims. She also joked that “I don’t think people needed to connect too many dots” to realize that she was one of the mothers in Ms. Tisdale-French’s group.
Mandy Moore ‘would not have handled the situation this way’
Moore admitted she was shocked by the article. Because, “The most important thing in my life is being a kind person and having that kindness passed down to me. And when it comes to the company I choose to stay with, it’s extremely upsetting for anyone to even hint that that might not be the case.”
The “A Walk to Remember” actress said that although she is “really scared of confrontation,” she is “a big proponent” of talking to someone face-to-face if your feelings have been hurt.
“It’s not always the most comfortable situation, but I think I kind of felt different in that I feel like I wouldn’t have handled the situation this way,” Moore said.
She also criticized the media coverage of Tisdale-French’s essay, saying she believed it “perpetuates this stupid metaphor that women can’t support each other, that we’re inherently mean, that we’re inherently trying to outdo each other, and I’ve never felt that way since I became a parent.”
Ashley Tisdale French previously denied rumors about mom group members
Tisdale French’s story, “I’m Allowed to Leave My Mom Group,” was first published on her blog, By Ashley French, before being added to her essay, “Leaving a Toxic Mom Group,” published in The Cut. Although Tisdale-French could not name the women in the group and said she thought most of them were not bad people, her story depicts high school-style bullying aimed at ostracizing her.
Days after The Cut’s article was published, Tisdale French’s representative shot down speculation that Moore, Duff and Traynor were involved in the Tisdale scandal in an interview with TMZ.
Tisdale-French wrote that the mom support group was formed by friends, many of whom are recent mothers. The “High School Musical” alum said she and the women bonded over their shared experience navigating raising children during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She confessed that she felt “energized” and “sense of belonging” by being around fellow working mothers who are “finding a balance between fulfilling work and family life.” She added: “I was so happy to meet so many incredibly smart and interesting women. There seemed to be a pattern in this group where someone was left out, and that someone was me.”
The actress insisted that this story is not meant to sharpen her own axe, but to uplift the voices of other women who are struggling with similar things.
Contributors: Anna Kaufman and Edward Segarra, USA TODAY.
