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Ashley Tisdale made waves when she claimed in an essay for The Cut that she’d left her mom group because it was “toxic” and made her feel like she was in “high school,” but according to a new report, there was far more to the story.
After Matthew Koma, 38, the husband of Hilary Duff, 38, slammed Ashley, 40, as “self-obsessed” and “tone deaf,” a couple of insiders spoke out, suggesting that Ashley was actually dumped by her mom friends, who included Mandy Moore, 41, and Meghan Trainor, 32, for a number of reasons, including her “extremely toxic” behavior and a “misalignment of values.”
“It wasn’t an overnight thing. Her politics don’t align with a lot of the group members, which drove a wedge between them. But the big straw that broke the camel’s back was how Ashley responded to the group about the LA wildfires last year,” an insider close to the friend group told The U.S. Sun on January 6. “Multiple members of the group were impacted, some worse than others, and Ashley hardly checked in.”
Most notably, Mandy and her brother and sister-in-law lost their homes.
“She didn’t offer to help with the means she has. She just lived her own life, didn’t check in to see how they were doing, and her friends felt abandoned by her,” the source continued. “Her friends felt the amount of self-absorption she showed just got worse, and it was impossible to maintain a friendship with her since it was so one-sided. It seemed like she was only interested in things that benefited her or suited her interests.”
“Some of Ashley’s comments about politics and even a select few of her social media posts made moms in the group feel uncomfortable with her by association. It created an extremely toxic dynamic. They questioned her morals and what she believes in,” the insider added.
They went on to note that Ashley’s alleged falling out with former BFF and High School Musical co-star, Vanessa Hudgens, 37, was also prompted by the described behavior.
“Vanessa Hudgens drifted apart from her for the same reasons,” the source said.
As for how the mom group felt when Ashley went public with her supposed decision to leave, which she announced to the women via text, the insider said it was “such a slap in the face to the years of friendship they had built.”
“[Ashley] took little to no accountability for her own actions that caused this and seemed like she just wanted to deflect and get ahead of it in case anyone from the group spoke up about her in the future. The girls are mad but also found it funny she felt the need to do this. Further [proves] she’s not a good friend,” the source concluded.
Meanwhile, another source targeted Ashley’s values.
“It was a misalignment of values that Ashley decided to make public,” the insider shared with PEOPLE on January 7. “Friends naturally drift apart. It didn’t warrant a dramatic breakup text.”
But a second insider noted that Ashley had been feeling a “disconnect” with the women in the months leading up to her breaking things off with the friend group.
“Ashley put this out there because [she wants people to know] toxic behavior is not acceptable,” said the source.
While Ashley is still following Meghan on social media, she’s no longer following Hilary or Mandy.