Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s ‘discreet lives’ after Full House fame: the millionaire sisters on why they pivoted from Hollywood to fashion – interview
- Celebrating the 15th anniversary of their luxury fashion brand The Row, the former child stars sat down for a rare interview
- Celebs from Taylor Swift and Rihanna to Michelle Obama have worn their designs, while Gigi Hadid, Jonah Hill and Zoe Kravitz praised their sense of style
Following their shared role as Michelle Tanner on Full House, the two had successful acting careers in their teen years. But they stepped away from the limelight after the late 2000s, which Mary-Kate Olsen credits in part due to the fact that they “were raised to be discreet people”.
The twins, who turned 35 on Sunday, June 13, rarely give interviews (Mary-Kate Olsen warned they were “a bit out of practice”), but sat down with Vice’s i-D Magazine for a story to commemorate the 15th anniversary of their fashion brand, The Row. The New York Minute stars, who moved to The Big Apple together when they were 18, originally didn’t want to be the faces of their company, they told the publication.
“We really didn’t want to be in front of it,” Ashley Olsen said. “We didn’t necessarily even want to let people know it was us, in a way. I mean, it was one of those things where it was really about the product, to the point where we’re like, ‘Who could we get to kind of front this so we don’t have to?’ I think, to this day, you’ll see we really put the product first.”
She added: “What we did know was that we wanted to take that time to take a break from what we were previously doing and to explore things that interested us, and explore what life has to offer. We wanted to explore making something of ourselves.”
In the past, the two have talked about their decision to quit acting. Mary-Kate Olsen told Allure magazine in 2013 that she is “not great at not being able to control the end product”.
