Mandy Moore gushed over Hilary Duff’s husband, Matthew Koma, as the fallout of Ashley Tisdale French‘s “toxic” mom group essay continues.
Moore, 41, reposted an Instagram Story video shared by Koma, 38, on Wednesday, January 7, which showed her performing her hit song “Candy” at a benefit concert held in California to mark the anniversary of the Pacific Palisades fires.
“This feels incredibly fitting as @matthewkoma happens to be one [of] the most talented and generous humans I’m lucky to know (he literally gave my family a place to stay one year ago today when we evacuated),” Moore wrote, adding, “Love you, MB!!”
Days earlier, Koma made waves online with his response to French’s now-viral article published by The Cut, titled “Breaking Up With My Toxic Mom Group.”
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In the essay, French, 40, reflected on growing close with a group of fellow moms — until she started feeling like she didn’t belong.
“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,” she wrote. “I was starting to feel frozen out of the group, noticing every way that they seemed to exclude me. … I told myself it was all in my head, and it wasn’t a big deal. And yet, I could sense a growing distance between me and the other members of the group, who seemed to not even care that I wasn’t around much.”
After being excluded from another outing, French sent a text claiming that the group felt “too high school” for her, which “didn’t exactly go over well.”
Without naming names, the actress wrote, “Some of the others tried to smooth things over. One sent flowers, then ignored me when I thanked her for them. … To be clear, I have never considered the moms to be bad people. (Maybe one.) But I do think our group dynamic stopped being healthy and positive — for me, anyway.”
Fans were quick to suspect that the High School Musical star — who shares two daughters with husband Christopher French — was referring to her friendships with Moore, Duff, 38, and Meghan Trainor, who were frequently seen spending time with Ashley and their kids. The speculation continued as social media users noticed Ashley allegedly unfollowed Moore and Duff on Instagram.
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A rep for Ashley denied the rumors to TMZ — but that didn’t keep Koma from stirring the pot. In a since-deleted Instagram Story shared Tuesday, January 6, Koma put his own spin on The Cut’s article.
“A mom group tell-all through a father’s eyes,” his post read. “When you’re the most self-obsessed tone-deaf person on earth, other moms tend to shift focus to their actual toddlers.”
The upload included a photo of Koma and Duff posing together on a couch. “Read my new interview with @thecut,” Koma added.
Ashley has not addressed the drama further, but her husband shared his own cryptic message in an Instagram Story on Tuesday, reposting a graphic that read, “It’s your choice whether or not to engage.”
