“I know Mandy Moore, and she’s a wonderful, sweet person,” the comedian said in a new interview.

Chelsea Handler defends Mandy Moore amid Ashley Tisdale mom group drama, calls it ‘reason not to have children’

"I know Mandy Moore, and she's a wonderful, sweet person," the comedian said in a new interview.

Joey Nolfi is a senior writer at *. *Since 2016, his work at EW includes *RuPaul's Drag Race* video interviews, Oscars predictions, and more.

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January 8, 2026 10:41 a.m. ET

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Ashley Tisdale; Chelsea Handler; Mandy Moore. Credit:

Michael Tullberg/Getty; Monica Schipper/Getty; Amy Sussman/Getty

- Chelsea Handler defended Mandy Moore's character amid drama surrounding Ashley Tisdale's toxic mom group.

- "So, they're mean girls to Ashley Tisdale?" Handler asked in a new interview about unconfirmed reports about who is and isn't a member of the group.

- "I have no idea what went on, but I know Mandy Moore, and she's a wonderful, sweet person," Handler said.**

Chelsea Handler has weighed in on the intensifying drama surrounding Ashley Tisdale's "toxic mom group."

After the *High School Musical* actress (who recently changed her name to Ashley Tisdale French) published an essay in *The Cut* in which she admitted to removing herself from what she said was an uncomfortable dynamic among a friend group comprised of other mothers, fans speculated that the group in question included other famous moms like Hilary Duff, Meghan Trainor, and Mandy Moore after digging up past photos that showed some of the entertainers posing together.

Now, upon learning about the developments for the first time in a new interview with *Page Six Radio*, Handler jumped to Moore's defense.

"So, they're mean girls to Ashley Tisdale?" Handler said after the program's cohosts summarized the news for her, pointing out that, while Tisdale French didn't officially name members of the toxic mom group, Duff's husband, Matthew Koma, fanned the flames when he shared a social media post mocking Tisdale French's essay as "tone deaf."

Hilary Duff at a Fendi fashion show.

Daniele Venturelli/Getty

Handler said that she likes "when Hilary Duff is in a story," and that she's "attracted to storylines with her in them," before saying that the dynamic of any mom group "sounds awful" to her.

"That's another reason not to have children, to have to deal with that s---. You're out of school, you're a mother, then you have to deal with that dynamic and being excluded again? As an adult woman? No thank you," said Handler, 50.

After the conversation moved to center on Moore, Handler admitted that she has "no idea what went on, but I know Mandy Moore, and she's a wonderful, sweet person. So, I'll just say that."

The comedian and recent Critics Choice Awards host went on to say that she doesn't "really know Ashley Tisdale, and I don't say it with disdain in the way I just said it, on purpose. I don't know why I said Ashley *Tisdale,* but, I don't know Ashley Tisdale. So, I would like to be transparent."

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She finished the thought by saying, "I do like Meghan Trainor as well."

** has reached out to representatives for Tisdale French and Moore for comment.****Though none of the celebrity moms in question have publicly spoken about the drama, earlier this week, Koma, whom has also produced several of Duff's songs in the past, shared a meme to his Instagram Story jabbing Tisdale French's piece in *The Cut*.

"Read my new interview with [*The Cut*]," Koma said in a caption of a photo that showed his face edited over Tisdale French's body sitting in a chair.

The image also included text mirroring that of Tisdale French's article, reading "A mom group tell all through a father's eyes," and, "When you're the most self obsessed tone deaf person on earth, other moms tend to shift focus to their actual toddlers."

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

Duff was first to post the aforementioned images of the celebrity moms together, with the singer-actress sharing shots of their babes in 2021, while Tisdale French also posted a now-deleted image of the stars together.

Watch Handler speak about Tisdale's toxic mom group drama in the video above.

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