mom

MOM-OF-TWO Ashley Tisdale shocked fans when she dragged a long-simmering feud back into the spotlight after calling out her former “mean girl” A-list pals, Hilary Duff and Mandy Moore.

These Mom wars have been erupting on both sides of the pond for years, whether it’s Love Island’s Molly-Mae feuding with mommy bloggers or sister rivalry between Kourtney and Kim Kardashian in Hollywood.

With bitter fallouts to ruthless mom-shaming, these celebrity parents have taken their battles far beyond the playground.

From an A-lister blocked on a Whatsapp group to ‘hippy parent’ shaming, here’s an inside look into showbiz’s biggest ‘toxic mom’ feuds.

Ashley vs “Mean Girl” Moms

High School Musical alum Ashley Tisdale caused controversy when she revealed that she was dumped by her A-list mom friends, calling them out for their “mean girl” behaviour.

Ashley is mom to daughters Jupiter and Emerson with husband Chris French but went viral this month thanks to her scathing words about the group.

READ MORE ON ASHLEY TISDALE

MEAN MUMS

I was in a toxic celeb mum group like Ashley Tisdale – their demands baffled me

MAMA DRAMA

Real reason Ashley Tisdale was dumped by ‘toxic’ mom friends like Hilary Duff

Ashley, published an op-ed entitled You’re Allowed To Leave Your Mom Group, in which she explained how she took a stand after “being left out from yet another group hang.”

While she didn’t name people, it was well known she hung out with a group that included Mandy Moore, Meghan Trainor and Hilary Duff and described the group as leaving her “feeling hurt, drained or left out.”

Now she does not follow some of her former pals on Instagram, sparking more speculation of a feud, and wrote in the publication how the final straw came when she was excluded from a series of events.

She put: “During the early days of the group, there was another mom who often wasn’t included.

“I’d picked up on hints of a weird dynamic, but at the time, I didn’t dwell on it too much. I was just so happy to have found these incredible, smart, funny women. Now it seemed that this group had a pattern of leaving someone out. And that someone had become me.”

Ferne and Sam’s epic spat

Former best pals Ferne McCann and Sam Faiers fell out in 2022 after Ferne branded Sam a “fat c***” in a leaked voicenote.

The warring mums had been friends for 20 years and appeared on reality show The Only Way Is Essex, with the two ending up becoming ‘sworn enemies’.

After the incident Ferne apologised saying her comments were “manipulated, edited and taken entirely out of context”.

The two reality titans have their own family shows on the same broadcaster ITV.

Ferne’s First Time Mum and Sam’s The Family Diaries both aired on ITVbe and when it comes to awards shows the pair even have to be separated.

During the National Television Awards, a source revealed: “It was a logistical nightmare because despite working for the same channel, ITV had to keep them apart and they couldn’t be placed into the same hospitality boxes.

“It was more than a little bit awkward.”

Myleene vs Frankie and Rochelle

Saturdays singer Frankie Bridge, 36, has been at the centre of decade long feud with fellow presenter Myleene Klass, 47, as well as having a strained relationship with ITV regular and her bandmate Rochelle Humes.

It was revealed that whilst working on the set of Loose Women, Myleene and Frankie avoid each other in the corridors at ITV and one frosty reunion was captured on camera when Frankie and Myleene made a very rare appearance together.

Myleene used to be mates with The Saturdays singers but their friendship ended when she split from her ex husband Graham Quinn.

Frankie and Rochelle worked with Quinn when he was their bodyguard during their pop star days, and the girl band stars remained friends with him.

The moms were all once close, with Loose Women hosts Myleene and Frankie attending Rochelle’s hen do back in 2012.

In 2013, soon after Myleene’s divorce from Quinn, guests at the Glamour Women of the Year awards saw her storm over to Frankie after believing she had been blanked.

At the time a source said: “Myleene seemed to take that as Frankie taking sides with Graham because of their working relationship.”

WhatsApp drama

It seems there’s always something going on in the Kardashian household- and both Kim and Khloe have previously accused sister Kourtney of “mom-shaming” them, calling her “judgemental.”

But things really became bitter between the siblings when Kim admitted Kourtney had been blocked of a Whatsapp group.

During the Season 4 premiere of The Kardashians on Hulu, Kim claimed during an argument that all of Kourtney’s friends had been complaining about her behaviour in a group chat labelled “Not Kourtney”.

On her Instagram Kourtney was quick to clear up the rumours after a fan responded underneath one of her posts, they penned: “Are those friends on the ‘not Kourtney groupchat’ cause if so we don’t need them there.”

She swiftly replied: “No the members of that chat are namely Kim, Khloe, Kendall and Kylie. Case closed,” with a detective emoji.

Fans were stunned by the accusation that the group chat in question was made up of just family members, with hundreds replying and liking her response.

Molly Mae vs Mom Bloggers

Love Island alum Molly-Mae Hague was caught out by a Mom bloggers this year following alarming ”safeguarding issue” involving her daughter Bambi.

The reality star, 26, has been facing growing criticism over her parenting recently, after the film crew for her documentary had captured her tot using the toilet, although blurred the clip sparked outrage with fellow moms.

One mommy blogger Charlotte Blandford Tagger, took to TikTok to raise her concerns over Bambi featuring in Molly’s vlogs and the latest celeb documentary.

Charlotte said in her video: ”Molly-Mae asking Bambi to pull her pants down, get her bare bottom out, go for a wee in front of a camera crew – and then broadcast it to millions of people.

”We’re just skimming past the fact that someone has videoed her daughter’s private parts, had that on their camera roll.

”They’ve sat with a few people in the gallery, edited that and thought, ‘Perfect, that is great’,” said the furious parent.

A source revealed to the Mirror that Molly was shocked by the reaction, they said they shared that backlash hit the star particularly hard because Bambi’s welfare is and always will be her number one priority. Confessing “she’s had a real shock with this backlash.” 

They added: “She really trusts her filming team but I think she’s realising that there’s more to a reality show than just filming random scenes from your day. Viewers expect more, and of course they’re going to critique every scene.”

Battle of the mom-preneurs

Hollywood stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Alba had mutual friends which saw them float around the same circles, but their rival businesses seemed to have caused friction between the two working ‘mompreneurs’

Their feud kicked off just over a decade ago, when on Gwyneth’s website Goop she dropped a scathing review about one of Jessica’s skincare products, from her business The Honest Company.

“Many of the ‘clean’ products I proudly use (and have even touted on goop) have turned out to be a product of marketing, rather than actually safe,” she said, grading it a C.

A year prior, Jessica had her own harsh words for the rival mom when whilst promoting her book The Honest Life: Living Naturally and True to You she was asked if she was inspired by Gwyneth.

She replied: “Gwyneth Paltrow probably lives a very similar lifestyle, but I didn’t grow up with a bunch of money, so my tips are much more grounded: repurposing things and making things at home.”

Alicia slammed over ‘Hippy Parenting’

It’s been long known that actress Alicia Silverstone’s ‘hippy parenting’ habits have caused controversy – especially in the Hollywood mom circles.

The first notion of her unique parenting was noted in her 2015 book The Kind Mama, in which she claimed ‘postpartum depression is caused by eating processed sugars’ and said ‘allowing your baby to sleep in its own crib is neglectful.’

Not only this, but the star revealed that she believed that some children are “never the same” after they get vaccines.

She then made herself the subject of even more criticism when a resurfaced video showed hergiving her son pre-chewed food from her own mouth, a ritual known as ‘bird-feeding’.

She then sent fans into a frenzy whilst discussing her “approach to motherhood” during a chat on the Ellen Fisher Podcast, in which she revealed that she still co-sleeps with her 11-year-old son.

“… Bear and I still sleep together,” and later added, “I’ll be in trouble for saying that, but I don’t really care.”

Her parenting methods have sparked fears she could be isolating herself within Hollywood mom circles, with the likes of fellow mother and TV host Whoopi Goldberg reacting to the clip on US daytime show The View, saying: “I don’t know any 11-year-old that wants to sleep with me.”

Tellingly, Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik was the only celeb mothers to defend Alicia, giving credence to her parenting techniques in a lengthy article.

Mayim said : “Let’s reserve judgment for people who beat their children, sell their daughters into prostitution, or deny women the right to make decisions about their bodies and their lives.”

A TEEN Mom favorite has shown off her drastic weight loss for the new year, and she looks like a completely different person.

In an emotional video, the MTV reality star revealed two scary health emergencies led her to totally change her eating and fitness habits, resulting in an incredible slim-down.

Briana DeJesus‘ best friend Shae Kogut, 35, took to Instagram to cover her health journey over the course of 2025.

She said in 2024, she began suffering “gallbladder attacks,” and scheduled a surgery to get the organ removed.

“That’s where my health journey really began. My entire eating habits have changed,” Shae wrote.

“I learned what my body needed for fuel, I learned that protein is my best friend, I also learned that drinking water isn’t so bad.

WORK IT, MAMA!

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‘HAVING A BABY!’

Teen Mom star announces his girlfriend is pregnant with their first child

“Before this heath journey started, I was drinking weekly, I was in taking so much sugar, my energy crashes were so bad to a point I couldn’t even function without daily naps.”

PAINFUL SURGERIES

In August 2025, the Teen Mom pal suffered “bloating and pain” in her stomach area, and discovered she needed to get cysts removed from her ovaries.

“Since my recovery, I’m able to do so much more physically than ever before because I don’t have the pain anymore!” she said.

“Truly thankful for this year, it taught me resilience, perseverance, and believing in myself again!

“I only share my life on here because I know others may be going through similar things! 2026 is going to be a ‘Me year.’

“Toning my body, being the best version of myself all around and I’m really excited to see what this year brings!”

Shae has appeared on Teen Mom many times over the years in scenes with her friend Briana.

She currently works as an Orlando-based influencer and Salty Honey brand ambassador.

The mother of a local tennis star joined Los Angeles County prosecutors on Monday in calling for stricter DUI penalties in California after they say her son was killed by a two-time drunk driver.

Braun Levi, an 18-year-old South Bay tennis standout, was struck and killed by a car in the early-morning hours of May 4 in Manhattan Beach.

According to Los Angeles County prosecutors, 33-year-old Jenia Resha Belt was behind the wheel, speeding while driving on a suspended license and with a blood alcohol level almost twice the legal limit. Belt, prosecutors say, has a previous conviction for driving drunk.

“California’s current DUI laws are broken and weak and fail to protect families like ours, and it’s devastating,” Braun’s mother, Jennifer Levi, said at a news conference Monday. “His death haunts my every breath, every day.”

Although his parents were proud of his athletic and academic achievements, they were most proud of how he treated other people, Levi said. “He had a smile for everybody. He had a heart for everybody. I miss him so much.”

In light of her son’s death, Levi said she would work with state Sen. Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera), whose granddaughter died after being hit by a drunk driver last year, to write and pass a bill that will restructure the state’s DUI penalty laws and requirements, she said.

“The feeling, the sight, the smell of identifying our son’s body will never leave my mind, body or soul, so I will not be silent,” she said.

The SoCal athlete, who died a month before his high school graduation after entering the top national ranks in boys tennis, is part of a larger trend of DUI-related deaths over the last 15 years, according to a CalMatters investigative series that L.A. Dist. Atty. Nathan J. Hochman referenced.

Roadway deaths have been steadily rising since 2010, partially due to repeat drunk drivers and people driving over the speed limit, CalMatters reported. Alcohol-related deaths have increased by 50% over the last decade, according to the investigation.

“Braun should be home right now from his first semester at UVA, spending the holidays with his family, their first as a family still displaced by the Palisades fire,” said Councilmember Traci Park, whose district includes Pacific Palisades.

“He should be planning his future, not being remembered for the way his life was taken from him.”

California’s DUI laws, although considered to be nation-leading in the 1980s, have fallen behind the curve, Hochman said.

Hochman warned drivers, especially ahead of the New Year’s Day holiday, that his office would continue to charge them — and potentially those who over-serve alcohol at bars or parties — with serious crimes.

“We are here to prevent crimes and send crystal clear messages to would-be drunk and drug drivers, to people who want to engage in excessive speed on our roads: We will come after you,” Hochman said, calling the issue a “fight for people’s lives.”

Belt is charged with second-degree murder, felony gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and a misdemeanor count of driving with a suspended license after a DUI. She is being held on $2-million bail and faces life in prison if convicted.

Belt’s arraignment is scheduled for Jan. 13.

This Saturday will mark five years since Juan Gabriel died.

Of course, the iconic singer songwriter — real name Alberto Aguilera Valadez — isn’t really dead.

His body may no longer be with us, but how can someone who meant so much to people of Mexican heritage on both sides of the border cease to exist?

It’s impossible to sum up the full impact that Gabriel has had on generations of Mexicans and Mexican Americans. It’s more than the songs or the stage persona or the me vale attitude to what you thought about his sexuality. It’s the fact that for many of us he’s a connection to our families (raise your hand if your mom made you clean the house while blasting his music), to our homeland and to our culture. He gave us a shared language that affords us the opportunity to rejoice or grieve as a community.

There are profiles written about the man that are worth your time — I recommend this one published in The Times in 1999 — but for this newsletter we turned it over to our community to tell us how El Divo de Juárez forever changed their lives.

Juan Gabriel and the LGBTQ community

Juan Gabriel when asked if he was gay: “Lo que se ve no se pregunta”

(Julio Salgado / For The Times)

Luis Octavio remembers the first time he saw Gabriel. He was sitting with his family and the singer was about to perform on the weekly Mexican variety show “Siempre en Domingo.”

But all he could focus on was the sequins Gabriel was wearing.

“It gave me a little bit of hope that maybe my jotería would be accepted just the way my abuela, my abuelo, the tíos and everybody else who saw him on that screen accepted his and saw past his flamboyance,” said Octavio, co-founder of the drag bar El Place and one of the organizers of Boyle Heights’ first pride event.

Gabriel’s sexual orientation has always been an open secret. It has always been assumed that he was gay, but it was rarely discussed, with one glaring exception.

During a 2002 interview with news program “Primer Impacto,” reporter Fernando del Rincón asked Juanga point-blank if he was gay. With daggers in his eyes, Gabriel responded with “Lo que se ve, no se pregunta.” What is seen is not asked.

Octavio told me this interview always stood out for him — he described it as iconic, which, yeah, it is — because it told Mexican queer people that being who they were was more than enough and that you didn’t owe anything to anyone.

It’s a sentiment that Nomi B, a drag queen who hosts “Noche de Gringaderas” at El Place, certainly relates to.

“We all knew he was a sister,” she said.

“I admire that he kept his life private and he was like, ‘I don’t care what you think or say about me. I’m going to keep my life private and you’re going to enjoy my music no matter what.’”

‘Abrázame que el tiempo es malo y muy cruel amigo’

In 2000, Juan Gabriel released “Abrazame Muy Fuerte,” an operatic banger that makes the case that time is cruel, unforgiving and finite for humans. Because of this, he begs his subject to pend much of that time embraced in each other’s arms. The song was a huge hit and was used as the theme song for a telenovela that shared the same name.

A few years later, it also became my parents’ song.

Around that time, my mom developed a brain tumor. The doctors didn’t know yet if it was malignant, but my family assumed the worst. The prospect of losing our anchor became very real. My dad took it the hardest, and because he is the embodiment of the closed-off macho who tries very hard not to emote, he didn’t have an outlet to let out what he was going through.

So he did what any Mexican would do: He turned to Juan Gabriel.

I was away at college when this happened, but my sister would tell me that he’d play the song nonstop, sometimes sitting next to my mom on the couch with his eyes closed in prayer. It must’ve worked because the tumor ended up benign. Decades later, my mom is the healthiest she’s ever been.

During the pandemic, that song took on an added meaning for me. It was late last year and my parents and I decided to take a road trip. “Abrazame Muy Fuerte” came on. All three of us started singing along, and it wasn’t long before we started bawling. The painful memory came back, but with it came the realization that we still had time and we were spending it together.

That’s the thing about Juan Gabriel’s music. These aren’t just songs. They’re memories. They’re feelings we can’t express, and even if we could, why would we when Juanga’s already done it better?

When I decided to write about Gabriel, I knew that I wanted others to share some of their favorite songs. I asked friends and colleagues to contribute a song for this Spotify playlist and to write a few lines about why they picked that tune.

Artist Julio Salgado: “I wanted to illustrate a mom teaching her son to clean while listening to Juan Gabriel. I totally took this from my own experience as my mom had no tolerance for boys just sitting around and not cleaning when we were growing up.”

(Julio Salgado / For The Times)

“Querida”— He’s just so dramatic! Like, “Yes, b—!” (Nomi B, drag queen)

“Amor Eterno” — If there’s a song that defines who Juan Gabriel is, it’s “Amor Eterno.” Since he wrote the song for Rocio Durcal, it’s Juan Gabriel as a song writer. As a singer, his emotion has made it the quintessential Mexican song about heartbreak, regret, and ultimately, trying to make sense out those emotions. With the song’s lyrics and emotions — along with Juan Gabriel being from the Juárez-El Paso borderland — it’s little wonder why “Amor Eterno” was played and sang everywhere in the days following the El Paso massacre. (Roberto José Andrade Franco, writer-at-large at Texas Highways)

“La Frontera” — When I first moved to the U.S. I felt like I didn’t belong here because I didn’t speak perfect English and nobody could pronounce my name. Listening to that song and how he talked about how everybody’s happy at the border and how everyone’s different, it made me feel safe. (Luis Octavio, co-founder of Boyle Heights drag bar “El Place”)

“Inocente Pobre Amigo” — Juan Gabriel was the first poet in my life, a staple at my parents’ home in South Gate, California. My mother owned all of his albums. And when I went away to study literature at the University of Chicago, I took them with me.

I was back in California, walking around in Boyle Heights, when he passed. I got the news alert. Then, all along César E. Chávez Avenue, shop owners blasted his songs. Juan Gabriel wrote hundreds. I know all of them.

For beginners, I recommend “Inocente Pobre Amigo,” which recounts a heartbreaking disillusion but, above all, is a song about valuing yourself. Go on YouTube. Find the version that was recorded during Juan Gabriel’s first concert in Mexico City’s Palace of Fine Arts. Watch him perform with his hands on his hips, glistening in black and gold sequins. Hear him crack jokes with the audience and watch the mariachis on stage try to muffle their laugh. Recall that some elitists thought his work was too lowbrow for the venue.

When Juan Gabriel passed in 2016, his ashes were taken to that same place. For hours on end, hundreds of thousands of people poured in to pay their last respects. I wish I’d been one of them. (Julia Barajas, Los Angeles Times staff writer)

“El Noa Noa”— It’s a song about a place where you can go and be who you are. The ambience of the bar might be different than what people are used to, but it’s about everyone being welcomed and letting them feel like they can be happy. (Melissa Befierce, Mother of Haus of Befierce and events coordinator at El Place)

“No Tengo Dinero”— For me, Juan Gabriel’s songs are tied to memories of me riding on my grandfather’s truck with my aunt and my grandmother on the roads of Campeche where we lived for a few years. Juan Gabriel’s “No Tengo Dinero” is one of his iconic songs because for many it’s always a struggle to have money, but if at least we have love, we know we’ll be alright. (Denise Florez, Los Angeles Times multiplatform editor)

“Have You Ever Seen the Rain? (Gracias al Sol)” — My mom and tías have always been huge Juan Gabriel fans. I grew up in El Paso and he of course has immensely close ties to Juárez, where his career took off. His music is the soundtrack of my childhood. There was a brief time when it was around so much, it annoyed me. But when I moved away from home, that soundtrack became so powerful and comforting. It instantly connected me with my family. My sister, mom and I have sung (poorly) along to “Querida” hundreds of times at this point. But that’s going to be almost everyone’s favorite song. It’s just kind of perfect JuanGa. But the one I’ll choose for this playlist is what I believe is the only cover he ever did: “Have You Ever Seen the Rain? (Gracias al Sol).” In the video, he’s wearing amazing rainbow-colored pants and having so much fun. He brings joy to his work and it’s infectious. He’s also a great singer, so it stays on my playlist along with the much older hits. (Iliana Limón Romero, Los Angeles Times deputy sports editor)

“Hasta Que Te Conocí” — Later brilliantly covered by Ana Gabriel, it is the perfect song about love gone sour, heightened by lyrics that are pure melodrama. (Carolina Miranda, Los Angeles Times columnist)

“Así Fue” — He was never more brilliant, more heartbreaking, more JuanGa than in that song. (Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times columnist)

“Costumbres” — Here’s an extremely on brand story: During one of my family’s chaotic Christmas parties, we were all doing what we usually do⁠—drinking tequila and singing along to a playlist of Juan Gabriel, Rocío Durcal, Alejandro Fernández and, well, you know the vibes. As always, “Costumbres” comes on, the Rocío version, and my trash-talking sister starts to sing loudly, drunkenly, and off-key: No cabe duda que es verdad que la costumbre es más grande que el amor. She looks at me and says, “That’s f— real, dude. La costumbre really is más grande que el amor.” She then scowls at her husband across the room and screams over the music, “F— you, [name redacted]!”

That is the power of “Costumbres.” That’s actually the power of 99.9% of songs written by Juan Gabriel. However, “Costumbres” is god-tier in his canon of songs that have an unbelievable ability to drag your soul. We dance to “Noa Noa,” weep to “Amor Eterno,” raise our arms up to “Querida,” and strongly consider divorce to “Costumbres.”

“Costumbres” is sung from the perspective of a person telling their partner their love has been replaced by resentment, but habit and the comfort of a warm, familiar body keeps them together no matter how many times they try to walk away. Juan Gabriel’s love songs have an uncanny ability to swim in the thick nuances of romance, its brutal pains and exhilarating joys, and as is the case with “Costumbres” the harsh realities of committing your life to someone. He seemingly had a direct line to our deepest fears about love, and expressed poetically something even as mundane as being over it but staying anyway. To quote my sister, that’s f— real, dude. And it’s why “Costumbres” along with so many other songs he penned are elevated to a place of cultural veneration and soundtrack of the most affecting moments of our lives. (Alex Zaragoza, senior culture writer at Vice)

Fernandomania @ 40: El Campeón.

The latest installment of our multi-part documentary series “Fernandomania @ 40” is out today. You can watch here.

When Fernando Valenzuela took the mound in Game 3 of the 1981 World Series, the New York Yankees had a commanding 2-0 lead over the Dodgers and Tommy Lasorda’s crew was facing the real possibility of a third World Series loss in five years to their East Coast rivals. In the end, the Dodgers won the game, 5-4, largely due to the gritty performance of their rookie left-hander. Valenzuela gave up nine hits and seven walks in a 146-pitch complete-game, spurring the team to a World Series victory and cementing his pitching legacy in Los Angeles.

Missed an episode of “Fernandomania @ 40”? You can find them all here.

Yesterday was the MLS vs. Liga MX All Star Game at the Banc of California Stadium near downtown Los Angeles, but the most important soccer match that took place that day happened hours earlier at a park in Pasadena. That’s where members of the #LigaMXEng community got together to celebrate the beautiful game (and come to terms with how out of shape many of us actually are).

What’s #LigaMXEng? It’s a Twitter hashtag where podcasters, reporters, and fans from around the country congregate to talk about Liga MX, the most popular soccer league in the United States. More importantly, it’s entirely in English, the primary language for many of us. It’s that last part that does it for me.