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    1. Celebrity

    Ashley Tisdale’s Daughter Watched ‘High School Musical’ and Thought Zac Efron Was Her Dad

    It's worth noting that her dad does *not* look like Zac Efron.

    By Kayleigh Roberts
    Published 26 January 2025 In News

    When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

     Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale make an appearance on MTV Total Request Live at MTV Studios Time Square April 26, 2006 in New York City
    (Image credit: Getty Images)
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    At the risk of making everyone who reads this feel very old, Ashley Tisdale has a daughter who is apparently old enough to be a High School Musical fan. But, if it softens the blow at all (and it will — trust), that daughter is young enough to be also apparently be convinced that Zac Efron is her dad.

    To clarify, Tisdale's daughter doesn't think actual, current day Zac Efron is her long-lost father, but that young High School Musical era Efron is actually the younger version of her actual dad, musician Christopher French, to whom Tisdale has been married since 2014, and who, for reference, looks like this:

    Ashley Tisdale and Christopher French attend the quot;Spring Breakersquot; premiere after party at The Emerson Theatre on March 14, 2013 in Hollywood, California

    Tisdale and French at the Spring Breakers premiere after party in March 2013 in Hollywood, Cali.

    (Image credit: Getty Images)

    The 39-year-old actress shared this adorably hilarious information during an appearance on the Jan. 15 episode of the Breaking Beauty Podcast, when one of the show's hosts asked if her three-year-old daughter Jupiter, had started watching any of the former Disney star's movies and TV shows yet.

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    “She has seen High School Musical,” Tisdale shared. “I think about a year ago, maybe my husband showed her it. I was like, ‘What are you doing?’”

    Jupiter might have been old enough to appreciate the some things about the HSM experience, but, alas, she was not old enough to appreciate the true fact that her dad did not portray Troy Bolton in the movie.

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    "She thought Zac Efron was her dad,” Tisdale explained, laughing as she shared the story. “I was like, ‘No, that’s not Daddy. Just cause they have dark hair, it’s not Daddy.'”

    In Jupiter's defense, the person she correctly identified as mommy does spend most of the movie displaying obsessive thirst for the person she decided must be her dad, so it's easy to see how she got there: "That's mommy. Mommy loves that guy with dark hair. Mommy loves daddy, who has dark hair. Clearly that dark-haired guy is dad." It's honestly just solid logic.

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    Sharpay Being Obsessed with TROY | High School Musical - YouTube Sharpay Being Obsessed with TROY | High School Musical - YouTube
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    Tisdale went onto say that she doesn't think Jupiter really “realizes” yet what her mom's job is, but, that she is starting to notice some of the less-than-normal aspect of life with a famous parent.

    "She did start to get to the age where she’s questioning why people take pictures with me. And I truly did not know how to answer that," Tisdale admitted. “I just said, ‘I don’t know,’ and my husband goes, ‘That’s what you said?’ So I think she actually thinks you just take pictures with people.”

    Kayleigh Roberts
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    Contributing Editor at Marie Claire

    Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with over 10 years of professional experience covering entertainment of all genres, from new movie and TV releases to nostalgia, and celebrity news. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

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