Without a doubt, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are the most famous twins to ever pass through Hollywood. The pair started their on-screen career when they were just six months old, on Full House.
But after nearly two decades in the spotlight, just after a successful feature film, the pair basically disappeared from public view. They’ve barely been seen since 2006, save for a few choice events.
Here’s everything that led to the Olsen twins disappearing from the spotlight.
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What happened to the Olsen twins?
After spending their childhood and teen years in the spotlight, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen effectively disappeared, opting for careers removed from the public eye.
The duo effectively retired from acting in 2012, though they both had been slowly stepping back from the entertainment industry for a few years.
Their last film together as twins was in 2004’s New York Minute. At the time, Ashley told 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.”
This was also Ashley’s last-ever movie –– Mary-Kate went on to star in the 2006 film Factory Girl and 2008’s The Wackness.
In 2006, the twins founded high fashion label The Row, followed by their second brand Elizabeth and James, in 2007. The Row started with a seven-piece collection, and is now a respected fashion brand available in 37 countries. The Cut estimated that The Row earns about USD$100 million in sales per year.
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The twins were conscious of not having their name attached to their label. “We didn’t necessarily even want to let people know it was us, in a way,” Ashley told i-D in 2021. “We wanted to explore making something of ourselves.”
Of their decision to step away from acting, Ashley said that she simply didn’t want to be super-famous anymore. “I don’t like to be the centre of attention anymore,” she told Elle UK. “It’s weird to be called a celebrity or talk about it,” Mary-Kate added.
What’s Mary-Kate Olsen doing now?
Mary-Kate Olsen is still serving as the Creative Director for The Row and Elizabeth & James, the fashion brands she created with her sister over a decade ago.
In 2015, Mary-Kate married Olivier Sarkozy, a French businessman and half-brother of the former French president. The pair started dating in 2012, after meeting at a party in New York City. The 17-year age gap didn’t bother the pair, being spotted at events and basketball games sharing cosy PDAs.
The couple split in 2020 at the height of the COVID pandemic. Their divorce was settled in January 2021.
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In 2021, Mary-Kate said that she prefers working in the fashion industry more than in Hollywood, as it allowed her and Ashley to grow and evolve freely, adding they “were raised to be discreet people”.
“We’re not chasing anything,” she later added. “We’re just being really honest with who we are and where we are with the brand.”
What’s Ashley Olsen doing now?
Ashley is the CEO of fashion brand The Row, and is heavily involved with the company along with Mary-Kate.
She began dating artist Louis Eisner in October 2017, and the pair married in December 2022. Just like her sister, Ashley lives a very private life, and has zero social media presence.
What is the Olsen twins’ net worth?
The Olsen twins amassed a huge fortune from a young age. First came their acting stint on the beloved TV series Full House, and before long, the sisters had created an entire brand around their name.
In 1993, when they were just seven years old, the twins established the company Dualstar, which produced all their films, merchandise, and everything else associated with the Olsen name. By the early ’00s, Dualstar was worth more than one billion USD.
In 2007, before their clothing brand took off, Forbes pegged Mary-Kate and Ashley’s combined net worth at $100 million. As of 2019, The Row continues to generate between $100 million and $200 million per year in sales.
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It’s hard to pin down their actual net worth, but it’s safe to assume that their combined fortune is roughly $500 million.
Do Mary-Kate and Ashley use Instagram?
Mary-Kate and Ashley are notoriously private. Not only do they stay off all forms of social media, but they’re also rarely ever spotted in public. The twins do appear at events from time to time – such as the prestigious Met Gala – but other than that they try to keep a relatively low profile.
Speaking about avoiding fame, Mary-Kate told British Vogue: “We’ve been there, we’ve done that, we started out that way. But this is the way we chose to move forward in our lives: to not be in the spotlight, to really have something that speaks for itself.”
Are the Olsen twins related to Elizabeth Olsen?
As Elizabeth Olsen started to gain notoriety for her role as Marvel’s Wanda in the hit show Wandavision and the Avengers films, people were shocked to learn that the star is related to the famous twins.
“I was today years old when I realized that Elizabeth Olsen from the Avengers is related to Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen,” Queer Eye‘s Karamo tweeted in 2021.
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Similarly to Mary-Kate and Ashley, Elizabeth started her acting career at a young age. Her big break was when she was cast in the thriller drama Martha Marcy May Marlene in 2011.
“Nepotism is a thing and I’m very aware of it,” Elizabeth told Grazia. “And of course, I’ve always wanted to do it alone.”
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In April 2018, Elizabeth revealed the biggest lessons she’s learned from her mega-famous twin sisters.
“There are always ways you can be private – my sisters are intimately private and I respect that,” she said.
“They showed me that you can be private, but also accessible to journalists, for those reasons,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “It’s helpful that I learnt my value system from them.”