The Olsen twins were everywhere you looked in the 90s and early 2000s. But since then,
they've seemingly gone completely off the radar. So what really happened to Mary-Kate
and Ashley? As it turned out, they moved onto a completely new career that's going pretty well.
When you think of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, you surely picture a cute little girl on an
iconic family sitcom. The Olsen twins of course got their big break on Full House,
which premiered on ABC on September 22, 1987. It told the story of the recently widowed Danny
Tanner, who raised his three young daughters with the help of his best friend and brother-in-law.
Though the Olsens were only babies when the series premiered, they completely stole the show.
Since they were so young at the time, they didn't have much of a say about whether or
not they wanted to do the job. And as it turns out, they landed the role accidentally after
their mom sent their photos to a friend, who just so happened to be a casting director!
Following Full House, the Olsen twins capitalized on their success by appearing in big-screen movies
and even starring in their own film collection. Full House absolutely
made the rest of their careers possible, but because they started it when they were babies,
they were basically always in front of a camera growing up, which couldn't have been easy.
"You got it, dude!"
If you grew up in the late 90s or early 2000s, then chances are Mary-Kate and Ashley movies were
a significant part of your childhood. Whether they were going to grandma's house, jetting off
to Paris, or having a sleepover, their adventures comprised a series of 36 movies that went straight
to video, so fans didn't have to waste any time as they popped them right into the VCR.
For kids of the era, Mary-Kate and Ashley movies were an absolute blast to watch.
As the twins grew up, the themes of their movies became more mature,
so an entire generation of children felt like they grew up right alongside Mary-Kate and Ashley.
These movies were the crux of their careers, and they built a business empire out of them. In fact,
they're even CEOs of their own production business called Dualstar, which was behind all the films.
"We were sitting in business meetings at the age of six."
But it wasn't all fun and games. Between working all the time and having cameras
constantly pointed at their faces, the Olsen twins definitely didn't have a typical childhood,
and some resentment naturally boiled over. In a 2010 interview with Marie Claire, Mary-Kate
revealed that she didn't exactly look back on her childhood with fondness. On the contrary,
she felt like she and Ashley were, quote, "little monkey performers." As she confessed,
"I look at old photos of me, and I don't feel connected to
them at all […] I would never wish my upbringing on anyone."
"I'm Mary-Kate." "And I'm Ashley."
"Don't adjust your TV sets."
Since Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were rich and famous from such a young age,
you might assume that they truly had it all. But not everything about their lives was picture
perfect. In 1996, their parents split, which meant that the preteen Mary-Kate and Ashley
had to deal with family drama while the entire world looked on. According to the controversial
Lifetime movie The Unauthorized Full House Story, the divorce was, in part, caused by
the pressure of the twins' careers. But multiple Full House cast members have denounced that film,
so it's unclear exactly what happened. According to Mary-Kate and Ashley's dad Dave,
it wasn't as dramatic as it seemed. As he told Entertainment Weekly in 1996,
"The reality is that the transition has been very smooth.
Everyone sees eye to eye. The girls are fine."
Nevertheless, a divorce is never perfectly easy for anyone,
let alone two young girls who had already amassed a huge following. With all that family drama,
it's no wonder that they didn't want to stay in Hollywood forever.
As any Mary-Kate and Ashley fan can tell you, as they got older, their movies started
to revolve around different locations. There was Passport to Paris, Winning London, and of
course the Sydney-based Our Lips Are Sealed. Each successive flick saw the girls head to a new city,
and in 2004 that city was The Big Apple. But that ended up being the end of their cinematic travels,
as New York Minute was the last movie they ever filmed together. It felt like a good place to
stop, as it was a bona fide theatrical release. As Ashley explained on the New Zealand show Holmes,
"We had done straight to videos for so long and [New York Minute] was a bigger movie and it was a
great family film and it was something we wanted to accomplish before we went off to college.
I don't know if it will be the last project Mary-Kate and I do together,
but we wanted to make a great family film and I think that's what we accomplished."
All good things must come to an end, though,
and the Olsen twins were soon headed off to the next chapter in their lives.
It's a safe say that the Olsen twins have amassed quite the fortune,
but just how much are they worth? As it turns out, quite a lot. In fact,
they were already millionaires while they were still kids. In 2007, they were ranked
11th on Forbes' list of the richest women in entertainment. As the article put it,
"At age 20, the fraternal twins preside over the tween retail empire Dualstar Entertainment Group.
Established in 1993, it sells $1 billion worth of merchandise worldwide a year.”
And that's not all. Back in 1996, Entertainment Weekly reported that
the then-9-year-olds were already worth $10 million.
That number has only grown exponentially since then. According to CelebrityNetWorth.com,
they're now worth a combined $500 million as of 2021. It's pretty safe to say that the
Olsen twins have never struggled for money, and they've certainly worked hard for it.
"Either of you young ladies spare some change?"
"Oh yeah, here."
After Mary-Kate and Ashley wrapped filming on New York Minute, they stuck around in the city,
as they both began attending New York University in 2004. It was obvious that they both wanted to
take a step back from the spotlight and just be normal teenagers for a bit. And while they
both eventually left NYU after less than two years, it remained clear that they
were both over being famous. As Mary-Kate explained in a 2008 interview with Elle,
"It's weird to be called a celebrity or talk about it. I don't talk about being a celebrity
in my business meetings. I don't talk about it with my friends. It's not a part of my life."
Being child stars was overwhelming for the Olsen twins, so it's hardly
surprising that they wanted to lay low for a while after college. It was also around this
time that they gave up acting, although one of them did make some more on-screen
appearances for a little while longer. As Ashley admitted to Elle U.K. in 2012,
"I don't have to be a pretty face. I've done that, but now it's important and liberating
to be on the other side of the lens. I don't like to be the center of attention anymore."
Mary-Kate continued acting for a few more years after her sister quit,
appearing on eight episodes of Weeds in 2007 and in the movie Beastly in 2011.
But she ultimately also called it quits shortly after, and as told Elle U.K.
"[It] just felt right to move away [from the spotlight]."
After spending their entire childhoods in front of the camera,
it made sense that both Mary-Kate and Ashley would want to spend some time behind the lens
making different creative decisions. But they didn't get into directing or producing. Instead,
they launched a new kind of career with the start of their fashion lines in 2007. Their lines are
called "The Row" and "Elizabeth and James," and they've been successful with each ever since.
"And you're very passionate about what you're doing and
how you're doing it and the product itself."
"Right."
In 2019, the Olsen twins announced that Elizabeth and James, their lower-cost line
which is named after their siblings, would be carried at Kohl's department stores.
So if you've ever wanted to dress like the Olsen twins or support their fashion endeavors,
you can easily do so if you have a Kohl's in your area. Some of the fashions that
Mary-Kate and Ashley wear might seem a little less-than-mainstream, but there's no denying
that they both possess a certain sense of grace, and that easily translates into their designs.
After leaving the spotlight behind, the Olsen twins were finally able to really grow up and be
themselves. Though they might be eternally seen as cute little girls in the public imagination,
they've seriously grown up over the years. Mary-Kate in particular has lived quite the
romantic life. In 2015, she married her boyfriend of three years, French banker Olivier Sarkozy,
at an intimate ceremony and reception in New York. The pair had reportedly been
planning their nuptials for a while before they tied the knot. Though she was pretty
quiet about her relationship, Mary-Kate was obviously pretty smitten with Sarkozy,
and getting married proved just how far she had come since her child star days.
From crying on a sitcom to marrying a banker, her life has taken some wild turns.
As for Ashley's love life, she was still looking for a while, but then in 2017,
she was linked to an artist named Louis Eisner, and they've reportedly been happy
together ever since. The couple aren't known for flaunting their relationship all over town,
which led some people to believe that they were trying to hide it,
but as a source told Radar Online in 2019, that was hardly the truth. As the insider put it,
"It's not that they are trying to keep their relationship on the down-low,
Louis just doesn't like the spotlight — even less so than Ashley."
Clearly, these two care more about each other than what the public thinks of them,
and that's pretty sweet. Moreover, as Radar reported,
they were moving in together at the time, and as the source confirmed,
"They're very much in love."
Divorce is an eventual reality for plenty of couples, including Mary-Kate Olsen and
Olivier Sarkozy. Their separation began in 2020, and it was a doozy. During the height
of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sarkozy invited his ex-wife, their children, and his mother
to come stay with him and Mary-Kate, all in the same house. As a source told Page Six,
"Maybe French people culturally have a different view of marriage,
and while Mary-Kate loves his children,
it was too much to have his ex-wife living with them during the pandemic. Would you want the
ex-wife living with you for an unforeseeable amount of time in the middle of a crisis?"
When you put it that way, you can't really blame Mary-Kate for wanting to end things,
but it didn't exactly get any easier after she made that decision. Despite her claims that
Sarkozy was attempting to kick her out of their New York apartment in the middle of a pandemic,
she lost her bid for an emergency divorce petition, although the
divorce was eventually finalized in January 2021.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are fraternal twins, but they might as well be identical
considering how close they are to each other. But sometimes siblings, even twins,
eventually drift apart as they get older and start their own individual lives.
Although in the case of the Olsen twins, that drifting apart hasn't really happened.
As Ashley explained to The Wall Street Journal Magazine in 2018,
"It's been 32 years of learning how to communicate. [Our relationship is]
a marriage and a partnership. We have had ups and downs. We do everything together."
And as Mary-Kate then chimed in,
"We came out of the womb doing that."
The twins have always been close, and by the sounds of things, they'll remain close forever,
as they'll surely always have each other's backs no matter what the future holds!
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