Mandy Moore's telling comments as Ashley Tisdale 'toxic' friend group drama explodes

The latest salvo has seemingly been launched in the Ashley Tisdale 'toxic' mum's group saga, with Mandy Moore praising Hilary Duff's husband Matthew Koma following a benefit concert one year after the LA fires.

The actress and singer was one of the stars who performed overnight at A Concert for Altadena to support the long-term housing recovery and relief for families, small businesses and first responders impacted by the Eaton Fire.

Koma later shared a clip of Moore performing her 1999 hit Candy alongside her musician husband Taylor Goldsmith on his Instagram Story, which she reshared with a gushing post.

Watch the videos above.

"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)," she wrote.

"Love you, MB!!"

Moore's post and show of support for Koma appears pointed, given earlier this week he weighed into the saga involving Moore and Duff's former friend Tisdale.

Tisdale was once part of a famed group of mums, which included Moore, Duff, singer Meghan Trainor and others, that used to gush about their tight group on Instagram.

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That was before earlier this week when she wrote a scathing essay for The Cut entitled "Breaking Up With My Toxic Mum Group", which she also shared on Substack, calling out her former besties.

While Tisdale was careful not to name names, and even started her Substack piece by warning "online sleuths" not to investige the matter, eagle-eyed watchers soon deduced Tisdale had not been seen in photographs with her former pals for some time and had unfollowed both Moore and Duff on Instagram.

Among the grievances she listed in her essay was being "frozen out" of the tight-knit "clique" of celebrity mums and being excluded from outings.

The High School Musical alum, who also goes by her married name Ashley French, compared the experience to being back at school.

Tisdale wrote that after the birth of her first daughter with husband Christopher French in March 2021, she wanted to connect with other mums.

At first, things went swimmingly, but she revealed that after the birth of her second daughter in September 2024, she noticed she was being left out of group activities, only learning about them after seeing posts on Instagram.

"I was starting to feel frozen out of the group, noticing every way that they seemed to exclude me," she wrote.

She said she then realised there had been a pattern of leaving one person out, but claimed she didn't notice until that person was her.

She said things came to a head when she decided to call out the group via a text message in which she wrote, "This is too high school for me and I don't want to take part in it anymore".

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She claimed that while some members of the group reached out to try to smooth things over, with one even sending flowers, after being ignored again, she decided to cut ties.

"I thought I found my village. Instead, I was back in high school," she wrote.

While Tisdale did not name names and started her Substack piece by warning "online sleuths" not to investigate the matter, fans quickly deduced who the friends were, causing a media frenzy.

Despite her rep telling media outlet TMZ it was "unfortunate that Ashley's words had been twisted in that way", the women remained silent.

Then earlier this week Koma weighed in, taking to his Instagram story to share a doctored AI image that replicated Tisdale's photoshoot for The Cut, with a new headline.

"When you're the most self-obsessed, tone-deaf person on earth, other mums tend to shift their focus to their actual toddlers," it read.

"A mum group tell-all through a father's eyes."

Now Moore has clearly shown where her allegiance lies, and it is hardly surprising given the long history she shares with Duff.

The two have been friends since at least the early 2000s, having bonded over their shared experience of finding fame at a young age. 

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