Ashley Tisdale and Haylie Duff Facilitate Playdate With Daughters in the Wake of ‘Toxic’ Mom Group Drama

The viral mom group drama did nothing to hurt Ashley Tisdale French’s friendship with Haylie Duff.

“Under table shenanigans,” Duff, 40, captioned an Instagram Story post on Tuesday, January 27, tagging Tisdale French, 40.

The photo featured Duff’s 10-year-old daughter, Ryan, playing with Tisdale’s 4-year-old daughter, Jupiter. Tisdale French also shared the photo via her own Instagram Story.

Duff shares Ryan and Lulu, 7, with fiancé Matt Rosenberg. Tisdale French and husband Christopher French are parents of Jupiter and Emerson, 16 months.

Duff and Tisdale French’s hangout session comes weeks after the High School Musical alum went viral for writing an honest essay for New York Magazine‘s The Cut about leaving her “toxic” mom group.

“I remember being left out of a couple of group hangs, and I knew about them because Instagram made sure it fed me every single photo and Instagram Story,” Tisdale French wrote in the essay, which was published on January 1. “I was starting to feel frozen out of the group, noticing every way that they seemed to exclude me.”

It was widely speculated that Tisdale French’s mom group included A-listers like Hilary Duff and Mandy Moore, among others. While Tisdale French’s rep denied all rumors about the mom group members, Hilary’s husband, Matthew Koma, appeared to address the drama by mocking Tisdale French on social media.

Fans were also quick to notice that Hilary’s sister, Haylie, appeared to show support for Tisdale French. Us Weekly confirmed earlier this month that Haylie “liked” Tisdale French’s Instagram post promoting her article on The Cut.

The subtle display of support raised eyebrows about where the Duff sisters stand.

Rumors of drama between Hilary and Haylie started swirling in 2019 when multiple outlets claimed that they stopped interacting on social media. That same year, there were conflicting reports about whether Haylie attended her sister’s wedding to Koma.

Years later, Instagram gossip account DeuxMoi claimed in 2024 that the sisters had a falling out over Koma. The social media account alleged that Koma did not get along with Haylie’s fiancé, Rosenberg.

Hilary alluded to the drama during an interview with Rolling Stone in November 2025, teasing that questions would be answered in her new music.

“I’m ready to fill in the blanks and share with people and connect with them on the level of now,” Hilary said at the time. “My fans have gone through a lot of the same things, whether that’s complicated relationships, anxiety, raising kids, divorces, trying to find yourself in adulthood [or] family drama.”

Hilary debuted the song “We Don’t Talk” during the London show on her Small Rooms, Big Nerves tour earlier this month. Fans were quick to speculate that Hilary was singing about her sister. (Us Weekly has reached out to Hilary and Haylie’s reps for comment.)

“Don’t know when it happened / Not even sure what it was about,” the lyrics read. “’Cause we come from the same home, same blood.”

Elsewhere in the song, Hilary appeared to address what went wrong between them.

“And if it’s ’cause you’re jealous / God knows I would sell it all, then break you off the bigger half,” Hilary sings on the track. “Let’s have it out / I’ll hear you out, you’ll hear me out on the couch / Get back to how we were as kids / Let’s break it down / So sick of being so sad about / How we don’t talk and you won’t talk about it.”