Ashley Tisdale "feels weird" about turning 40

Speaking on 'The View', she said: "It does feel weird, I don't feel 40 and I get told I don't look 40 so I feel like it's just a number. I'm just gonna do something really small. I had a baby eight months ago, Emerson, and I had a baby shower that was this big kind of party so I feel like I already did that. So I'm just doing dinner with my family and friends, making it small."

The 'Phineas and Ferb' star initially found fame when she was cast as Maddie Fitzpatrick on the Disney Channel series 'The Suite Life of Zack and Cody' and then found further recognition as Sharpay Evans in the network's 'High School Musical' franchise alongside Zac Efron but joked that by the time her success came about she "wanted to retire" because she had been chipping away at it for so long.

Ashley - who launched the wellness brand Being Frenshe in 2022 - said: "At 18, I wanted to retire from acting because I'd done it since I was three! It was one of those things where I'd always followed my intuition, and it's kind of cool to be in this stage of my life where I'm older. With Frenshe, COVID had happened and I really wanted to connect with people and talk about my journey there and talk about my mental health and my journey there. It wasn't like anyone was telling me to do it, I didn't have a manager or agent telling me 'Hey, you should do this now...' It was just like me wanting to do it."

When asked about the enduring popularity of her 'High School Musical' alter-ego - who appeared in all three films within the trilogy and then in her spin-off TV movie 'Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure' - Asley admitted that it is "wild" to see the longevity but ultimately puts that down to the fans of the musical series.

She said: "Literally, she's always referenced in popular culture still today, which is so wild, but she's an icon and she's very popular obviously but I think that it's such a fun movie and it's a comfort for everyone to go back to it. The fans are what made that."