Hollywood Mom Group Shows Solidarity at Hilary Duff's Concert
In a clear display of unity amid ongoing tensions, Mandy Moore and several fellow members of Hilary Duff's Hollywood mom group attended the singer's final Small Rooms, Big Nerves tour show at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on Thursday. This public show of support comes amidst a highly publicised feud with actress Ashley Tisdale, who recently published a scathing essay about what she termed a 'toxic mom group'.
The Background of the Feud
The drama began last month when Ashley Tisdale, 40, published an explosive essay in The Cut titled 'Breaking Up With My Toxic Mom Group'. While she never explicitly named the women involved, fans and media outlets quickly connected the dots to Hilary Duff's circle, which includes Mandy Moore, 41, and Meghan Trainor. In her detailed account, Tisdale described feeling excluded from gatherings and discovering evidence of 'group hangs' on social media after the fact.
'Our group dynamic stopped being healthy and positive - for me anyway,' Tisdale wrote in the article, which elaborated on a blog post she had shared in November. She clarified that she didn't consider the moms to be 'bad people (maybe one)', but that the situation had become untenable. The final straw came when she was excluded from a particular gathering, prompting her to send a group text announcing her departure with the message: 'This is too high school for me and I don't want to take part in it anymore.'
Public Displays of Support
At Duff's concert this week, Mandy Moore took to her Instagram Story to shower praise on her friend, sharing multiple clips of Duff performing and their husbands, Matthew Koma and Taylor Dawes Goldsmith, dancing in the crowd. 'Broke my brick time to say that my bud is a sensational icon queen, giving us all what we needed,' Moore gushed. 'You are forever a superstar, @hilaryduff!!!!'
According to People magazine, two other high-profile members of the mom group, Janice Lee and Gaby Dalkin, were also in attendance to support Duff. This collective appearance sends a strong message of solidarity within the group that Tisdale has publicly criticised.
Longstanding Friendships and Group Dynamics
Mandy Moore, who shares three young children with husband Taylor Goldsmith, has been close friends with Hilary Duff for years. The two women became particularly close after welcoming babies in 2021. In a previous interview with InStyle, Moore described Duff as 'the coolest and she is a super-mom', revealing how their families had grown close.
'They have a kid who’s six weeks younger than [my son] Gus. And so, we had babies at the same time,' Moore explained. She credited Duff with creating their mom group, recalling: '[Hilary], being the super-mom that she is, formed a cool mom club. Somehow, I got invited into it, and it’s the best. I’ve made so many wonderful friends.'
Moore elaborated on the group's activities, noting they regularly gathered for dinners, attended baby classes together, and supported each other through the challenges of motherhood. 'I’m very, very grateful to have those resources and just incredible women to be able to lean on,' she said. 'We’re all kind of going through this chapter of our lives together.'
Escalating Tensions and Public Responses
The publication of Tisdale's essay sparked immediate backlash on social media and widespread speculation about which Hollywood mothers she was referencing. Adding fuel to the fire, Tisdale unfollowed both Mandy Moore and Hilary Duff on Instagram shortly before the piece was published.
Hilary Duff's husband, Matthew Koma, responded by posting a parody mock-up of a Cut headline that read: 'A Mom Group Tell All Through A Father's Eyes: When You’re The Most Self Obsessed Tone Deaf Person On Earth, Other Moms Tend To Shift Focus To Their Actual Toddlers.'
Hours later, Mandy Moore posted to social media praising Koma as 'one of the most talented and generous humans I’m lucky to know', noting that he had provided her family with accommodation during the California wildfires a year earlier.
Conflicting Perspectives and Hurt Feelings
A source close to Mandy Moore and Hilary Duff told Us Weekly that the group of moms had been 'hurt' and 'blindsided' by Ashley Tisdale's public attack. '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 insider revealed.
'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,' the source added.
Previous Praise and Changing Dynamics
The current conflict stands in stark contrast to Ashley Tisdale's previous effusive praise for her 'village of moms'. After her daughter Jupiter was born in 2021, Tisdale frequently celebrated her mom group connections. In 2022, she gushed about a weekend getaway with Hilary Duff and Meghan Trainor, writing: 'What an amazing group of women to journey through this mom-hood together!'
Just last January, Tisdale waxed rhapsodic about how her 'mom group' rallied around each other amid the LA wildfires, writing: 'The amount of people checking in with each other is so amazing', while tagging friends including Mandy Moore, Hilary Duff, and Meghan Trainor. 'You realize in dark moments you have each other. The human connection is not lost. Shout out to the mom group that’s there in the highs and the lows.'
Speculation About the Rift
Rumours have circulated about potential reasons for Tisdale's exclusion from the group, with some speculation pointing to her social media posts about Charlie Kirk's assassination last September. In those posts, Tisdale contrasted reactions to the murder with the response to 9/11, writing: 'Where we once were united and grieving together as a country, today we see someone die and blame his politics and opinions.'
Her post prompted online outrage, to which Tisdale responded defensively: 'It shouldn’t be controversial to say this, but even when we disagree or find someone’s views offensive, violence is never the answer.' She clarified her positions on various social issues, appearing to delineate a divide between her views and those of the late Kirk, a Christian conservative with opposing stances on abortion, gay marriage, and gun rights.
However, one source has responded to conjecture about Tisdale's isolation by saying: 'It's a myriad of things, not just one specific,' according to Page Six. An insider told PEOPLE: 'It was a misalignment of values that Ashley decided to make public. Friends naturally drift apart. It didn't warrant a dramatic breakup text.'
The public nature of this Hollywood mom group feud continues to unfold, with Thursday's concert appearance serving as the latest chapter in an ongoing narrative about friendship, motherhood, and celebrity dynamics in the public eye.
