After Ashley Tisdale published her essays about breaking up with her mom group, most of the attention focused on two of its most famous members, Hilary Duff and Mandy Moore. This caused Hilary’s husband, Matthew Koma, to shade Ashley on Instagram last week. The group’s other famous mom, Meghan Trainor, and her husband, Daryl Sabara, have made it clear that they were not involved in whatever drama unfolded. The fallout also got people curious about the other moms being accused of “toxic” and “mean-girl” behavior, all of whom were easy to identify thanks to their many social media posts.
On that note, Willa Ford is now entering the chat. Willa knows Ashley and several members of the mom group. She also happens to be very good friends with two of the non-celebrity women, Janice Gott and Kelsey Deenihan. During an interview with Page Six Radio to promote her new single, Willa gave her thoughts on Momgate and came to Janice and Kelsey’s defense, saying they’re “wonderful human beings” who don’t deserve the negative attention they’re getting.
Singer-songwriter Willa Ford has spoken out in defense of Ashley Tisdale French’s former mom group after the Disney Channel alum’s viral essay detailing their allegedly “toxic” behavior.
Ford, 44, revealed during a Friday, January 9, interview with Page Six Radio that she is close friends with Kelsey Deenihan and Janice Gott, two moms who have been photographed hanging out with French, 40. Mandy Moore, Hilary Duff and Meghan Trainor were also known to be part of the mom group.
“Kelsey and Janice are ride or dies. I went through a divorce. These were women who were by my side, who are wonderful humans just in general, not just in the business,” Ford said. “My girlfriends didn’t deserve this. They’re not actresses. Their faces didn’t deserve to be plastered.”
Deenihan is a celebrity makeup artist, while Gott is the founder of the breast pump company Muu. Ford also said that she has met French, calling the High School Musical star “so lovely.”
“Everybody has always been nice to me and wonderful to me, so I don’t know what happened [in the group],” she continued. “Mean things can happen. We can also make mistakes as people. Feeling left out is a real feeling. It’s crap. We all know that. But I don’t know what happened and I do know two of those women really well and I know that bullying is not in their DNA. So I just feel like it would’ve been nice if the communication maybe could have been done differently.”
Ford said she thinks the issue will “resolve itself” despite the public attention on it.
Willa got divorced in 2012, so she has known Kelsey and Janice for a long time. I can understand why she’d want to defend their honor. I’m sure none of these women expected their 2026 to start out with them being called out like this, especially over something that is sounding more and more like friends growing apart due to clashing values. Ashley’s first post about the situation, which she put on her personal website, didn’t really get much attention. She probably should have left it at that instead of putting a bunch of women on blast like that in a bigger publication. It opened all of them – herself included – up to scrutiny and unwanted attention. That said, I’m sure they’ll all be fine, though. No one is naming any of the other women for any specific bad behavior. No one is really even accusing Ashley of being anything other than self-centered and overdramatic.
Meanwhile, Becca Tobin seems to be on Team Ashley. She commented, “Ew” on a Threads post about Matthew’s Instagram Story. As for Ashley, she and her husband, Christopher French, made a joint post on Friday about finding “strength within,” which seemingly doubles as both a nod to what she’s going through right now and an advertisement for their wellness brand.
photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon
All I know is that “I Wanna Be Bad” was my JAM as a little gay boy growing up in the late 90’s/early aughts!!! My Mom and Dad were like, WHAT are you singing and WHY do you wanna be bad?!
LOL! IDK that song but in the 80s as a teen girl my mom was calling me out for Prince’s Erotic City and George Michael’s I Want Your Sex. 😂
LOL! Add in Push It, and my parents were similarly horrified by what I was belting out in my bedroom!
@Christine – I thought of Push It right after I posted. OMG the 80s had no guardrails. 😂
A group of girls danced to “Push It” at the talent show at my Catholic high school in the 80s LOL. After that, the acts had to be approved.
Grant, that is such a cute anecdote, lol. Yay for parents paying attention though?! lol
Mine was “Loser” by Beck: “I’m a loser baby, why don’t you kill me” which, understandably raised a few questions and concerns 🙂
You be as bad as you want today!! lol
I don’t know why her team chose to do this, because I don’t remember a lot of other pop stars going the same route, but she had multiple ads for I Wanna Be Bad in my teen magazines (like not profiles, actual ads) so I had them all cut out and taped to my walls!
I’m not on anyone’s team, but I agree that the post from Matt Koma was in poor taste. I rolled my eyes when I saw it last week. Team Grow Up, All of You.
When I had to deal with the hurt of shifting dynamics in an old friend group and the overdramatic married-in bossy mean girl, I just didn’t say a word against her and accepted that the other adults in the group will live their lives as they choose. I can’t control anyone. And as Taylor Swift said, “Trash takes itself out every single time.”
Either Ashley didn’t wait for the trash to take itself out or she is the trash that took itself out.
I’ve never understood the need to make a big production about why you’re leaving a friend group, an online group, etc. Are people wanting others to beg them to stay? I’m all for calling out toxic people/environments, there is a way to handle it and this isn’t it.
I can never remember what Ashley Tisdale has actually done, other than the nose job that made her unrecognizable. I wish she would sink back to her anonymity. It’s embarrassing to all of the rest of us middle-aged women to see her (Wikipedia tells me she’s 40) trying to drum up drama like she’s a sophomore in high school.