Hilary Duff was "taken aback" by Ashley Tisdale's essay about leaving her "toxic mom group".
In an essay for The Cut published last month, the High School Musical actress opened up about quitting a group of fellow mums after it became "too high school" for her.
The article swiftly went viral, and Internet sleuths claimed that Duff, Meghan Trainor and Mandy Moore were members of the group she was referring to, an allegation Tisdale's representative subsequently denied.
Addressing the drama directly during an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast on Wednesday, Duff shared her initial reaction to the piece.
"I felt really sad. I honestly felt really sad. I was, like, pretty, pretty taken aback and felt just, like, sad," she said, before noting that as a mother of four, she has "tons of different groups of mom friends".
"So I think I just was like, 'Woah'," she continued. "It sucks to read something that's, like, not true. And it sucks on behalf of, like, six women in all of their lives."
The former Lizzie McGuire star also pointed out the timing of the essay, as it was published while she was in the middle of rolling out her sixth album, her first in more than a decade.
"It came at the craziest time where I was like, the timing felt not great and I felt used," she added, reports People.
Last month, Duff's husband Matthew Koma hit back at Tisdale by superimposing his face onto her The Cut photoshoot and creating a new headline, which read, "When You're The Most Self Obsessed Tone Deaf Person On Earth, Other Moms Tend To Shift Focus To Their Actual Toddlers."
The Mature singer admitted that she didn't know Koma was going to make the post and stated, "Honestly, everything he does makes me laugh. So I was like, 'Oh my God. Oh my God.' But I also don't censor him, and I don't tell him what he can and can't post. He is so, like, fierce for me, and, like, I love him for that."
During her podcast interview, Duff mentioned both Moore and Trainor, suggesting they remain on good terms.
