It’s the start of something new: After going viral for her essay about leaving a group of allegedly “toxic” moms, Ashley Tisdale has teamed up with Netflix to transform her experience into a series.
The High School Musical alum announced the news Thursday (July 2) on Instagram, sharing screenshots of Deadline‘s exclusive report about the project. With Tisdale expected to star, Toxic Moms will feature a script written by Sabrina Jalees. Ali Wong is also involved and will possibly direct.
“Toxic Moms is a dark half-hour comedy following a sleep-deprived new mom who’s drawn into a clique of cool, wealthy mothers,” the publication described the show. “But when the group reveals its darker side, the series asks: in the isolation of motherhood, how far would you go to taste community?”
In her caption, Tisdale wrote, “I guess we all can be a little toxic.”
The development comes just six months after the singer-actress first published her essay titled “Breaking Up With My Toxic Mom Group” on The Cut. In it, she recalled feeling repeatedly “left out” by her former group of mom friends, comparing the experience to being “back in high school.”
“I knew that I had to speak up for myself, just like I would want my daughters to do,” Tisdale wrote. “So that’s exactly what I texted to the group after being left out from yet another group hang: ‘This is too high school for me and I don’t want to take part in it anymore.’”
The essay might have come and gone if it hadn’t been for internet sleuths who quickly determined that the friend group Tisdale was referencing included Hilary Duff, Mandy Moore, Meghan Trainor and other recognizable women. The Lizzy McGuire alum’s husband, Matthew Koma, stirred the pot by posting a satirical version of the article on his Instagram Story — “When You’re The Most Self Obsessed Tone Deaf Person On Earth, Other Moms Tend To Shift Focus To Their Actual Toddlers,” his faux headline read — after which Duff addressed the drama on Call Her Daddy.
“I don’t really think people had to connect very many dots, do you?” she said on Call Her Daddy in February. “It sucks to read something that’s not true, and it sucks on behalf of, like, six women and all of their lives … the timing felt not great, and I felt used.”
In May, Moore also weighed in. “I’m someone who is really scared by confrontation, but also when it’s important, I am a huge proponent [of] having a conversation if my feelings are hurt,” she said on Andy Cohen Live. “Face-to-face. It’s not always the most comfortable of situations, but I think that’s where I sort of differed in feeling like I wouldn’t have handled the situation this way.”
Beyond Toxic Moms, Tisdale is also working on a new comedy, You’re Only Young Twice, with CBS. She last dropped an album, Lemons, in 2019.
