Last week, High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale was sent reeling by a vicious and false internet rumor claiming she was dying from AIDS. In this week’s issue of Star — on newsstands now — Ashley’s mother talks about how her daughter is fighting back.

It all began on June 5 when blogs began picking up an unsourced “news story” that Ashley, 22, had been diagnosed with the HIV virus, possibly acquired from “contaminated equipment” used during her Nov. 30 nose job. And the hoax didn’t stop there. Soon, new reports claimed she’d developed AIDS and had only six months to live. Her rep soon shot down the story — telling Star it was “completely false” — but the damage was done and Ashley and her family are devastated.

“My daughter is healthy and just fine — but my husband and I just don’t know why anyone would spread such a rumor,” Ashley’s mom, Lisa Tisdale, 52, told Star at the family home in Toluca Lake, Calif. “And what really upsets me is that anyone can write anything, and it ends up on the Internet. It’s so irresponsible; so many people will just assume it’s a fact.”

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