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.
Breaking Down Ashley Tisdale's Mom Group Drama: A Complete Timeline
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.
French made headlines after she published a January 1 essay for The Cut titled, “Breaking Up With My Toxic Mom Group.” She detailed feeling excluded from the group and how she ultimately left the friendships behind, although she did not name anyone specific in the piece.
Christian Thompson/Disneyland Resort“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.”
Ashley, who shares daughters Jupiter, 3, and Emerson, 15 months, with husband Christopher French, said she eventually texted the group, “This is too high school for me, and I don’t want to take part in it anymore.”
As the essay went viral, fans speculated that French was talking about her mom group with Moore, 41, Duff, 38, and Trainor, 32. However, a rep for the actress denied the rumors in a statement to TMZ.
Stars React to Ashley Tisdale's Viral Mom Group Drama: Willa Ford and More
A source exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, January 8, that the “root of the issues” in the group was that “some of the women just became closer friends with each other, and Ashley started to feel left out.”
“There were times when hangouts or get-togethers were organized at the last minute, often casual outings or quick dinners, and Ashley wasn’t included. There wasn’t any bad intent. Friendships naturally changed and some people bonded more than others,” the source added, noting that the other moms “didn’t mean to exclude her.”
“They felt like she made a bigger deal out of everything. The tension largely came from what the group saw as a clash in priorities and values,” the source continued. “There were a lot of bonding moments Ashley felt she missed out on.”
Trainor is so far the only celeb mom friend of French’s to directly address the drama.
“Me finding out about the apparent mom group drama,” she captioned a TikTok video on Wednesday. The clip showed Trainor sitting at a desk and typing on a computer, with her 2025 single “Still Don’t Care” playing over the footage.
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