Kaley Cuoco has a theory for avoiding toxic mom groups.
After Ashley Tisdale went viral for opening up about drama among her mom friends in an essay for The Cut, Kaley had a simple solution for avoiding the headache in the first place.
“If you don’t like being part of a group, just leave, baby,” she said during a 5 February appearance on Watch What Happens Live. “I don’t think we have to talk about it. Just leave. Find a new group.”
But while Kaley, who briefly dated Ashley’s husband Christopher French in the early 2010s, did not think an essay was warranted, Ashley felt that speaking up about her experience made her feel “empowered.”
“Surely, it would have been easier to disappear without explanation and that would have allowed all of us to convince ourselves that we simply ‘drifted apart,’” Ashley reasoned in her own essay published in January. “But from the feedback I’ve received since I started talking about this, I now know I’m far from the only mother who’s been brought to tears by members of a group that’s supposed to lift everyone up.”
Nevertheless, Ashley has also received plenty of flack. Matthew Koma, whose wife Hilary Duff had previously been linked to Ashley’s supposed mom group, went so far as to parody the essay’s message.
“Read my new interview with @thecut,” he captioned a fake magazine cover shared on his Instagram Story 6 January, with the title of the faux article reading, “When You’re The Most Self Obsessed Tone Deaf Person On Earth, Other Moms Tend To Shift Focus To Their Actual Toddlers.”
Meanwhile, Dylan Efron, whose older brother Zac Efron worked with Ashley for years on the High School Musical franchise, admitted during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live, “I honestly don’t know what’s going on.”
“All I know is Ashley, since I was a kid, she’s been so sweet to me,” Dylan reasoned. “I can’t envision her doing anything malicious to the mom group. So, hopefully it’s just a misunderstanding.”