Mandy Moore breaks silence on Ashley Tisdale ‘toxic mom group’ feud as she defends Hilary Duff’s husband

Mandy Moore has broken her silence amid the growing backlash over Ashley Tisdale’s ‘toxic mom group’ essay.

The 41-year-old star publicly threw her support behind Hilary Duff’s husband Matthew Koma, after he clapped back at Tisdale’s now-viral article, in which she claimed she felt frozen out by friends during her postpartum period.

Moore reshared an Instagram Story posted by Koma, 38, on Thursday that showed her performing her hit song Candy at a California benefit concert marking the anniversary of the Pacific Palisades fires.

Alongside the clip, Moore praised Koma, writing, ‘This feels incredibly fitting as @matthewkoma happens to be one [of] the most talented and generous humans I’m lucky to know.’

She went on to reveal that Koma once gave her family a place to stay during the Pacific Palisades evacuation, adding warmly, ‘Love you, MB!!’ 

Koma had already sparked controversy after branding Tisdale ‘self obsessed’ and ‘tone deaf’, despite her previously praising the same mom circle – including Duff, Moore and Meghan Trainor – as her ‘village’ after welcoming daughter Jupiter in 2021. 

Moore’s show of support came just days after Hilary Duff’s sister Haylie – who has long been rumoured to be estranged from the singer – appeared to quietly back Tisdale’s now-viral essay.

Haylie, 40, was spotted liking The Cut’s Instagram post promoting the collaboration with Tisdale, which addressed alleged tensions within a high-profile mom group.

The subtle move did not go unnoticed, given years of speculation surrounding a possible rift between the Duff sisters.

Once famously close, Hilary, 38, and Haylie have not been photographed together publicly since 2019.

They also appear to have minimal interaction on social media, further fuelling long-running rumours of an estrangement.

Celebrity gossip outlet DeuxMoi previously claimed the men ‘don’t get along,’ leading to strain between the Duff sisters, though neither has ever publicly addressed the alleged distance in their relationship. 

Speaking of Hilary’s husband Koma, he had his say on the recent ‘toxic mom group’ as he slammed ‘self obsessed’ and ‘tone deaf’ Tisdale with a cutting Instagram post.

Koma, 38, took to Instagram on Tuesday amid speculation that Tisdale had fallen out with his wife Hilary over alleged mom-group tensions.

He poked fun at Tisdale’s recent essay in The Cut with a mock headline that read ‘When You’re the Most Self Obsessed Tone Deaf Person on Earth, Other Moms Tend to Shift Focus to Their Actual Toddlers.’

Koma also photoshopped his own head onto Tisdale’s body, recreating The Cut image of her seated on a white couch wearing an all-black outfit. The image also featured a smaller headline that read, ‘A Mom Group Tell All Through A Father’s Eye.’

It comes after Tisdale’s essay, called ‘Breaking Up With My Toxic Mom Group,’ detailed her feelings of feeling frozen out by friends during her postpartum period.

The High School Musical alum had previously raved about her ‘village of moms,’ which included Duff, Mandy Moore and Meghan Trainor, after welcoming her first daughter Jupiter in 2021. 

Fans quickly speculated that the unnamed group included Duff and Moore, particularly after Tisdale unfollowed both women on Instagram. 

Tisdale, who also shares a 16-month-old son Emerson with her composer husband Christopher French, joined the mom group created by longtime friend Duff, with the women sharing vacations, baby classes and playdates over the past four years. 

However, Tisdale recently wrote about ‘breaking up with my toxic mom group,’ explaining she began to feel excluded during vulnerable postpartum months.

Expanding on a November 2025 post for her blog ByAshleyFrench, she later penned an article for The Cut, though she did not name any of the women involved.

She wrote that she started noticing she wasn’t invited to certain gatherings, which she later saw posted on Instagram.

‘It took me back to an unpleasant but familiar feeling I thought I’d left behind years ago,’ she wrote.

‘Here I was sitting alone one night after getting my daughter to bed thinking Maybe I’m not cool enough? All of a sudden I was in high school again, feeling totally lost as to what I was doing ‘wrong’ to be left out.’

She said she ultimately texted the group after being excluded once again, writing: ‘This is too high school for me and I don’t want to take part in it anymore.’ 

‘To be clear I have never considered the moms to be bad people (maybe one),’ Tisdale added. ‘But I do think our group dynamic stopped being healthy and positive – for me anyway.’ 

While the actress has not publicly identified who she was referring to, fans noticed that the article arrived shortly after she unfollowed both Moore and Duff on Instagram.

Tisdale had once been a core member of the A-list circle.

In a now-deleted 2022 post from a girls’ trip with Duff and Trainor, she reflected on an enjoyable weekend away and how she loved ‘being surrounded by these ladies.’

‘What an amazing group of women to journey through this mom-hood together!’ she gushed, at the time.

As recently as January 2025, she publicly thanked the mom group for supporting her during the Los Angeles wildfires, writing: ‘The human connection is not lost. Shout out to the mom group that’s there in the highs and lows.’

Meanwhile, Moore and Duff appear to remain close.

The longtime friends have spoken openly about the support they’ve found in one another and even lived together during last year’s wildfires when Moore lost her family home.

They were also recently seen sharing photos from a festive trip with their children to see a Christmas lights display.

Duff shares her 13-year-old son Luca Cruz Comrie with ex-husband Mike Comrie, and three daughters — Banks Violet, 7, Mae James, 4, and Townes Meadow, 1 — with her husband Matthew. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Tisdale, Ryan, Duff and Moore for comment.

Meanwhile a member of Tisdale’s former mom group appeared to respond publicly following the star’s claims. 

Samii Ryan, a clothing designer and one of the women linked to the once-close-knit circle, recently raised eyebrows after reposting a video of a man dramatically opening his front doors while mouthing the lyrics to Megan Thee Stallion’s anthem Her.

‘I don’t care if these b*****s don’t like me, ’cause, like, I’m pretty as f**k,’ the track begins. ‘Just the other day, I heard a ho say. Matter of fact, what could a h** say? With a face like this and a b**ch this paid, s**t, what could a h** say?’

Ryan captioned the clip with the words ‘2026 mood,’ prompting fans to speculate the post was a pointed response to Tisdale’s recent comments.