The names "Mary-Kate and Ashley" are inseparable, especially for '80s and '90s kids. Ashley Olsen
has made a name for herself since she and her sister exited show business, and you might
have trouble recognizing her now. Let's take a look at how she's transformed over the years.
Born June 13, 1986, Ashley Olsen was just 9 months old when she and her
sister began portraying Michelle Tanner on "Full House." The two shared the role,
taking turns on screen. When the show first aired, fans weren't aware that Michelle was
played by more than one person; as MTV noted, the twins were credited as "Mary-Kate Ashley Olsen"
for most of the series, concealing the fact that they were, in fact, different people.
Ashley grew up on the show, but things almost went very differently.
One of the show's stars, John Stamos, reportedly tried to get the Olsen twins fired from "Full
House" early in the series' run. Stamos said at a press event that the girls cried too much,
so he briefly had them replaced. He explained:
"They brought in a couple of [...] redheaded kids, and we tried that for a while and that
didn't work, so it was, 'All right, invite the Olsen twins back.' That's the story."
Then, a few years later, Ashley, in particular, was almost fired from the show because,
as the twins grew older, they began to look less alike. Per Screen Rant,
the show's producers wanted to have just Mary-Kate play the role of Michelle without her sister.
Surprisingly, it was Stamos who saved the day, insisting that both Mary-Kate and Ashley be kept.
“You can't! We have to stay together for the kids!"
By the time Ashley Olsen was 6, she and her sister were helming a veritable empire.
Not only were they still starring on "Full House," but they also branched out to other
lucrative projects. Their parents set out to protect them from Hollywood execs who might take
advantage of them, while also wanting to have control over their brand. With their lawyer,
they set up Dualstar Entertainment in 1993.
While too young to actually run the company at its founding, the twins had a say in
what went on in the day-to-day business, even though, as Ashley later told WWD:
"We couldn't see over the top of the table."
Films produced by Dualstar include "It Takes Two" and "Passport to Paris."
Among their most popular endeavors were "The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley,"
a series of musical videos in which they played detectives, as well as their line of party tapes.
While Ashley and Mary-Kate wouldn't become co-presidents of the company until they were 18,
the success of Dualstar reportedly made them millionaires by the ripe old age of 10.
"The twins were the youngest self-made millionaires in the history of the United States."
The business didn't just churn out films, but also a wide array of merchandise,
ensuring that the twins left their mark on pop culture history.
When they were 9 years old, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's parents split up. While this was no doubt
a difficult time for them, especially because news of the split was everywhere, Ashley later said
that the life change wasn't as traumatic as you might expect. She told People several years later:
"To be honest, we were kind of busy at that point. We had so many people that loved us that we were
like, 'That's okay. Things will be better this way.' We were very mature for our age."
Still, it seems like the transition was a rough one. According to Entertainment Weekly,
Ashley reportedly refused to attend the ceremony when her father married his co-worker,
instead staying at home with her mom while Mary-Kate attended the nuptials.
Her dad swore that the girls were adjusting well, though, saying:
"Everyone sees eye to eye."
Whatever the truth of the circumstances may be, it certainly couldn't have helped
that some people believed the divorce was the twins' fault — at least according to
"The Unauthorized Full House Story." Per The Washington Post, the Lifetime film
blamed the twins' success for their parents' split, with one character saying, "The twins
are so wildly successful that sometimes that creates more problems than people can handle."
Far from just being an actress, Ashley Olsen established herself as a multi-talented
career woman from an early age. One way that she explored her creative side was through fashion,
launching a fashion line with her sister in 1999. Per Business of Fashion,
the two collaborated with Walmart for the girls' line, which targeted girls ranging from 4 to 14.
Barely a teenager herself at the time, Olsen was no stranger to designing,
as she had experimented with her own look throughout her life
and had a lifelong fascination with fashion. She told Marie Claire in 2009:
"I think you're either born with a sense of style or you're not. Either you care or you don't."
After a childhood spent in the spotlight, Ashley Olsen needed a break. She and Mary-Kate
decided to head to New York City for college. Interestingly, they might have been celebs,
but the two still had to go through the official application process
on their own — one which Ashley told Oprah left them "very stressed," saying:
"We were just like any other student trying to get in."
The Olsen twins got accepted to New York University, but their college experience
wasn't what they had hoped it would be. Far from having a bit of normalcy,
the two found themselves hounded by the press. Ashley told Marie Claire:
"When I came to [NYU], it was really tough for the first couple of months
because I couldn't show up to some classes, because there'd be paparazzi outside."
She added that attention from their peers was another issue,
recounting the time a fellow student protested their Walmart clothing line with signs that read:
"Mary-Kate and Ashley support child labor."
Ashley never finished her degree, ostensibly dropping out to focus
on her fashion design career, as noted by Cheat Sheet. Of course,
it's likely that her uncomfortable time on campus also had something to do with her decision.
In 2006, Ashley Olsen's early foray into fashion design reached new heights when she
and Mary-Kate started a new line called The Row while in college. It started off with a
basic white T-shirt before rolling out tank tops, leggings, and other basics.
It seems Ashley had no idea how big the brand would become at the time,
telling i-D in 2021 that they looked at it as "a passion project." She added:
"It took a year and a half, because there really
was no end date or goal in mind as far as turning it into a business, I'd say."
Today, The Row is a full-fledged luxury fashion label. Per its website, the brand centers on,
quote, "exceptional fabrics, impeccable details, and precise tailoring" and "combines a timeless
perspective with subtle attitudes which form an irreverent classic signature."
While some people might have thought that Ashley Olsen would return to her acting
career after college, her last major role was in 2004's "New York Minute."
She and Mary-Kate were also notably absent from the "Full House" reboot, "Fuller House."
As the show's executive producer Bob Boyett explained to People, Ashley reportedly said:
"I have not been in front of a camera since I was 17, and I don't feel comfortable acting."
It's understandable that Ashley didn't want to revisit that time of her life.
As she told Marie Claire, her entire empire made her rather uncomfortable. She said:
"Mary-Kate and I never really wanted our names on a bunch of different things.
It wasn't us — it never felt like us."
In an interview with Allure, Ashley explained that she also realized she couldn't act
and pursue fashion at the same time because of her desire, quote, "to do things 100[%]." She said:
"There's a lot of compromise in the entertainment industry."
Ashley Olsen rarely makes public appearances or gives interviews these days. In fact,
she isn't even on social media, and neither is her sister. She told Net-a-Porter in 2017:
"We don't dive into that world; we don't have Instagram or Facebook. So we've never
been connected to our customers or our fans in that way. We've stayed quite sheltered."
Mary-Kate explained that their quiet lifestyle outside of the public eye isn't just a product
of their upbringing. She revealed that — somewhat paradoxically — she and Ashley were
brought up by their parents to be "discreet people." When they do grant rare interviews,
the siblings don't divulge much about their personal lives or even discuss their famous
pasts a whole lot. Instead, the conversation seems to be centered largely on their work today.
As she's gotten older, Ashley Olsen has done her best to keep her private life
as private as possible. This is especially true of her dating life.
The actress is not married and never has been — that fans know of. At the same time, we
wouldn't put it past her to keep a marriage under wraps. Per Us Weekly, Olsen has been linked to a
number of men throughout her career, including Jared Leto, Lance Armstrong, and Justin Bartha.
She's never seemed to be very eager to discuss her romantic life,
though; in a 2007 interview with Marie Claire, she revealed that she was seeing someone and
took a lot of satisfaction in the public not knowing the identity of her partner.
She has reportedly been seeing artist Louis Eisner since 2017,
sparking engagement rumors in 2019, but we still have no official engagement or
wedding announcement. According to E! News, the two are rarely even spotted
in public together — which seems to be just how the retired actress wants it.
While Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are two names that many people still have trouble separating,
the two have worked hard to separate their identities in the public consciousness.
The two live separately — although near each other in New York,
as noted by E! News — but still work closely together on their fashion line, The Row.
While they may no longer be the darlings of Prime-time TV,
they seem to be living more fulfilled lives, while still enjoying being a package deal.
As Ashley told i-D, working together not only helps them with the creative process
but also with navigating their careers, fame, and everything else. She said:
"I think what's great is that we have each other to lean on. And managing design is one
thing and then also running the business side is another and I think you have a lot of decisions to
make [...] we feel fortunate that we can have that dialogue and divide and conquer a bit."
While Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate aren't acting anymore, their younger sister, Elizabeth Olsen,
is carrying on the acting torch. Elizabeth is best known for her role as Wanda Maximoff in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe. While Elizabeth could have been a child star, she chose not to pursue
acting as a career as a kid after seeing how much her sisters had to sacrifice. She told Parade:
"What I saw my sisters do was work, not play."
Now that the tables have turned, Ashley doesn't seem to begrudge her little sister
hogging the spotlight. The Olsen twins seem to have a close bond with Elizabeth,
with the younger Olsen telling Us Weekly that they've helped her a lot in her career. She said:
"I think they've given me a lot of little advice along the way."
She went on to add that the twins helped her make contacts in show business
and have offered her feedback on her performances as well — not too
surprising since they've all stayed close over the years!
While Ashley Olsen may have cut her acting career short, she's still working hard. Far from her and
Mary-Kate just slapping their names on their line, model Gigi Hadid told i-D:
"When you go into their office and you see their desks you can tell that they work there."
That hard work has paid off — big time. Ashley has been a millionaire for most of her life and,
per Celebrity Net Worth, has an estimated combined net worth with her sister of $500 million,
ranking them among the wealthiest women in show business. That's certainly enough for
retirement, but Ashley isn't resting on her laurels. As she explained to Net-a-Porter,
she's been working hard her entire life, and it's only natural for her to keep going. She said:
"I've always been a worker. It has taken me a lot to figure out how to take a vacation."
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