Jenna Bush Hager criticizes Ashley Tisdale’s public essay on ‘toxic’ mom group

Jenna Bush Hager criticizes Ashley Tisdale for publicly sharing her mom group struggles instead of private talks

Ashley Tisdale faced criticism from Today host Jenna Bush Hager over her public essay about leaving a mom friend group.

The 40-year-old actress and former Disney Channel star published the essay for The Cut on January 1, detailing her decision to step away from the group due to what she described as “high school” behavior.

Tisdale explained that while she initially felt she had “found [her] village,” she realized through social media that she was being excluded from events. This essay followed a prior blog post in By Ashley French, where she similarly described the group as engaging in “mean girl behavior.”

During an episode of Today with Jenna & Friends, Hager questioned Tisdale’s choice to make the conflict public rather than addressing the situation privately with her friends. “Good for her for telling her truth, but private conversations are more and more important,” Hager said. “Speaking your truth to the people who have hurt you should be enough.”

Co-host Matt Rogers added that publicizing the essay could unfairly target other well-known members of the group, with speculation pointing to famous moms such as Mandy Moore and Hilary Duff.

Tisdale, who is a mother of two daughters, Jupiter, 4, and Emerson, 15 months, with husband Christopher French, stated that she left the group after being continuously excluded. “This is too high school for me and I don’t want to take part in it anymore,” she wrote.

A representative for Tisdale clarified to TMZ that the essay was not about Moore, Duff, or Meghan Trainor, emphasizing that it was based on her personal experience with a different group of friends. The essay aimed to highlight challenges mothers face rather than target specific individuals.