Hollywood sibling stories are always messy. Add celebrity mom group politics, and suddenly it feels like a streaming drama nobody asked for, but everyone is binge-watching. In the latest twist of the Ashley Tisdale “toxic” mom group saga, Haylie Duff has quietly stepped into the spotlight by siding with Tisdale against her own sister, Hilary Duff. One Instagram like was all it took to send the internet into full theory mode.
Haylie, 40, hit the like button on The Cut’s Instagram post promoting Tisdale’s viral New Year’s Day essay titled “Breaking Up With My Toxic Mom Group.” The piece detailed Tisdale’s painful experience feeling pushed out of a tight circle of celebrity moms that reportedly included Hilary Duff, Mandy Moore, and Meghan Trainor. In pop culture terms, that single double-tap was a loud statement.
© Getty ImagesFor fans who have been watching the Duff sisters drift apart, the timing felt anything but random. Haylie and Hilary, once famous for being inseparable, have not been photographed together since 2019. That long absence has fueled years of whispers that something went wrong behind the scenes, long before the mom group drama ever became public.
The Like That Lit the Fuse
Ashley Tisdale’s essay in The Cut was not subtle. She described a mom group that made her feel “not cool enough,” excluded her from hangouts, and eventually pushed her to walk away. One line in particular caught readers’ attention when she said that not all moms were “bad people” — except for “maybe one” —and that she wanted to cut them out because the “dynamic stopped being healthy and positive.”
© GC ImagesThe internet immediately started speculating about who that one might be. Therefore, Haylie Duff's liking the post added gasoline to that already blazing fire. To many fans, it looked like a clear sign that she was backing Tisdale’s side of the story and, by extension, standing against Hilary.
Hilary Duff is not only a major part of the mom group being discussed, but she is also Ashley Tisdale’s longtime peer from the Disney era.
Hilary Duff and the Shadow of Family Drama
The tension between the Duff sisters has never been officially confirmed, but Hilary did drop a revealing hint in a November 2025 interview with Rolling Stone. She admitted she was struggling with “family drama,” a vague but telling phrase that now feels a lot heavier in context.
© Getty ImagesSources quoted by DeuxMoi have claimed that Haylie and her fiancé, Matthew Rosenberg, do not get along with Hilary’s husband, musician Matthew Koma. If that is true, it would explain why the sisters have been distant for years. Family relationships, especially when partners are involved, can fracture quietly long before the public notices.
Now, with Haylie appearing to side with Ashley Tisdale, that private tension has spilled straight into pop culture chaos.
Ashley Tisdale and the Toxic Mom Group Story
Tisdale’s essay struck a nerve. She wrote about being part of a group of moms who bonded during the pandemic, only to later realize she was no longer being invited to their gatherings. She said that seeing their hangouts on Instagram without her was the final emotional punch.
She compared the dynamic to a high school clique and said she eventually texted the group to walk away, telling them, “This is too high school for me and I don’t want to take part in it anymore.”
© Instagram: @ashleytisdaleTisdale was last photographed with the group in December 2024. Fast forward to 2026, shortly after the essay went live, fans noticed she no longer followed Hilary Duff or Mandy Moore on Instagram, which only deepened the speculation.
Mandy Moore’s Quiet Response Raises Eyebrows
Mandy Moore broke her social media silence with a heartfelt motherhood post just 48 hours after Tisdale’s essay went viral. She wrote about sitting at the OBGYN and feeling grateful for her family while also feeling sad that she may be done having babies. The timing felt pointed to many fans, even though Moore did not directly address the drama.
As if the situation was not messy enough, Hilary Duff’s husband, Matthew Koma, took a jab at Ashley Tisdale with a savage message posted Tuesday night after the essay exploded online. Fans took it as a clear sign that Hilary’s camp was not staying quiet.
© Lionel HahnThat public shot only made Haylie Duff’s Instagram like feel even more significant. It suggested she was not aligned with her sister’s side of the conflict, at least not in this moment. It is still unclear exactly what happened between the sisters, or how deep the rift goes. What is clear is that fans are reading every move, every like, and every unfollow as part of a much bigger narrative.
As 2026 unfolds, the “toxic mom group” is shaping up to be one of the most fascinating celebrity stories of the year.
