Hilary Duff's recent vacation photos from Mexico have sparked renewed online chatter about a celebrity friendship controversy involving Ashley Tisdale.
The actress and singer shared images from a getaway with longtime friends, including Mandy Moore, celebrity chef Gaby Dalkin, and makeup artist Kelsey Deenihan Fisher.
In an Instagram carousel, Duff appeared in a bright yellow one-piece swimsuit on the beach and a light blue two-piece swimsuit while sitting on a stone ledge.
Other images showed the group posing together on a terrace overlooking the ocean and wearing spa robes beneath palm trees.
Duff captioned the post, "The group chat made it to the jungle 🪶🌊🌴🌤️," while tagging the One&Only Mandarina resort on Mexico's Riviera Nayarit coast.
The images also featured beach outings and spa treatments. Duff celebrated her 39th birthday on September 28.
Several commenters connected the vacation to Tisdale's earlier account of tensions within a circle of celebrity mothers.
One commenter wrote, "I just know Ashley Tisdale is punching the air right now😂," while another asked, "Is this the toxic mom trip that made it out of the group chat?"
A third commenter wrote, "Y'all forgot about Ashley Tisdale."
Others pushed back against the speculation, with one follower commenting, "Ppl bringing up AT is kinda like adult bullying.
Leave her/it alone."
The discussion refers to Tisdale's January essay for The Cut, titled "Breaking Up With My Toxic Mom Group."
In the piece, the former High School Musical star described feeling excluded from gatherings with women she had previously considered close friends.
Tisdale described how social media made her aware of gatherings she had not been invited to.
She wrote, "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," explaining how the online posts reinforced her sense of exclusion.
In recounting her decision to leave the group, Tisdale wrote, "This is too high school for me, and I don't want to take part in it anymore."
She did not identify the women involved in the essay.
Nevertheless, social media users speculated that the account involved Duff, Moore and other celebrity mothers who had previously appeared together in photographs.
According to TMZ, a representative for Tisdale denied that the essay was about Duff, Moore or Meghan Trainor.
Duff subsequently addressed the controversy during an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast with host Alex Cooper.
She said the speculation had affected her emotionally, telling Cooper, "I felt really sad. I honestly felt really sad," as she responded to the claims circulating online.
She also disputed the accuracy of the speculation and expressed concern about its impact on the other women involved.
Duff said, "It sucks to read something that's, like, not true, and it sucks on behalf of like six women in all of their lives," referring to the people affected by the controversy.
During the same discussion, Duff questioned the timing of the situation and said she "felt used" while experiencing a resurgence in her career.
