- Ashley Tisdale wrote and published a tell-all essay about “breaking up” with her “toxic mom group” for The Cut on Jan. 1.
- Fans have speculated that the “He Said She Said” singer may be referring to Hilary Duff, Mandy Moore, and Meghan Trainor in the essay.
- Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Crystal Minkoff has weighed in on the drama with intel from her personal relationships within the group.
If you can believe it, it’s already been two weeks since Ashley Tisdale dropped a bombshell essay for The Cut where she called out a bunch of “toxic moms” in Hollywood. Thanks to subtle (and… not-so-subtle) responses from Hilary Duff and her husband, Matthew Koma, Mandy Moore, and Meghan Trainor, internet sleuths are convinced that the Disney Channel alum may be referencing her celeb peers in the essay.
Now, we’ve got a bit more intel from another celeb who claims she has personal ties to the group: Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Crystal Minkoff. During the January 12 episode of her Humble Brag podcast, Crystal alleged that she went to school with some of the moms without naming names.
“I know, probably, 70 percent of the mom group because we all went to preschool together. We’re all the same group,” Crystal, who appeared on the first three seasons of RHOBH, said. “One went to the same high school as us.”
She then broke down Ashley’s essay and the subsequent drama to her guest co-host, Tracy Tutor, saying, “I posted on Threads the other day a joke, like, ‘Oh, this is so 2021, I already went through this.’” She revealed that the internet made the connection between her and the High School Musical star when she admitted to “losing 14 friends” after her stint on RHOBH.
“What I found interesting is that Ashley’s story was that she left the group, and my story is I didn’t leave the group,” Crystal said. “I did the show, and they just said—I did a whole episode about this so it’s not untold—they all went against me and dropped me.”
After questioning what Ashley “thought would happen” after publishing her now infamous essay, Crystal came to her defense, saying, “You know if you’re being pushed out.” She also admitted that, once the piece started making headlines, she went to one of the moms in the group to get the scoop.
“I was like, ‘I gotta know what's going on.’ They said, ‘It’s so ironic that we’re the toxic ones and she’s on her own,’” Crystal explained. “I have mixed feelings about it, because I know this group. I don’t know Ashley at all. I’ve met Ashley a couple times, but I don’t know her at all.”
Despite not knowing her too well, Crystal said she would “feel connected” to Ashley, even if she “didn’t know the players” in the mom group from her school days. “I went through this. I lived it,” she said, explaining that she “kept it private.”
She continued, “So my initial [thought] is I feel for all sides, because I know the group. I will say, someone like Hilary, I known her for 10 years. Super sweet. I cannot see her being a mean girl like that, but it’s dynamic. So, I feel for Ashley.”
