Mary-Kate Olsen gained fame alongside her twin sister Ashley Olsen through performances in Full House, Passport to Paris, New York Minute, and other projects; however, she has since taken a step back from the acting world.
The siblings first made a name for themselves by sharing the character of Michelle Tanner on Full House from 1987 to 1995. Following the conclusion of the sitcom, Ashley and Mary-Kate built a successful career with a range of films, television series, and brand partnerships.
As they got older, both Ashley and Mary-Kate chose to take a step back from the public eye.
According to a July 2024 feature in Us Weekly, a friend noted, “Growing up in the limelight as young children appears to have influenced how Mary-Kate and Ashley navigate their adult lives,” while a former nightlife promoter added, “Considering they were child stars, they have managed to handle everything quite admirably. The outcome could have been much worse.”
Ashley has since shifted her focus to her fashion brand, The Row, which she runs alongside Mary-Kate. They have also been seen making rare appearances at fashion events and outings with their sister and fellow actress Elizabeth Olsen.
Keep scrolling for a breakdown of Ashley’s rise to fame — and a glimpse into her life now:
What Led to Ashley’s Departure From Hollywood?
Ashley and Mary-Kate both stepped back from acting in the mid 2000s after starting their fashion label, The Row. Ashley’s last appearances were in The Simpsons, New York Minute and Saturday Night Live. Mary-Kate, for her part, has since made some rare returns with roles in Beastly, Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s and more.
“We were raised to be discreet people,” Mary-Kate told i-D magazine in a June 2021 profile, with Ashley noting that they “have each other to lean on.”
“We definitely go by intuition and instinct and it can either confirm that feeling, or if we’re both not feeling right about something, for some reason, we just don’t do it,” Ashley explained at the time. “Our instincts are kind of the same. But I think what’s great is that we have each other to lean on.”
What Does Ashley’s Professional Life Look Like Now?
“Ashley and Mary-Kate run in some very high-end circles,” a source told Us in July 2024 about selling Ashley some art pieces at the Park Avenue Armory show for the pair’s London office. “Everyone they interacted with at the Armory show was a wealthy European. [They are] very well-versed in art, both historical and modern-day.”
Ashley has remained based in New York City while Mary-Kate splits her time between New York and L.A. The siblings both travel frequently to Europe for work and spend time in the Hamptons. When it comes to The Row, Mary-Kate is more involved with the creative, while Ashley spends more time on operations and finance.
“I think at some point, they wanted to prove something,” a former employee shared with Us about what drives Mary-Kate and Ashley to work so hard. “Because they were TV stars when they were kids, no one really took them seriously when they launched the collection. Now it’s really the only celebrity collection that’s relevant.”
Meanwhile, the former VP of Dualstar (the twins’ former media company), Judy Swartz told Us she’s absolutely not surprised by their success: “They are smart, talented businesswomen.”
When Was Ashley’s Last Public Appearance?
In 2024, Ashley was photographed at the Whitney Gala at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. She was also spotted hanging out with Mary-Kate and Elizabeth while enjoying a walk together.
Where Is Ashley Now?
Ashley was previously linked to Matt Kaplan, Justin Bartha and Bennett Miller before finding love with artist Louis Eisner. The couple started dating in 2017 and made their red carpet debut four years later at the YES 20th Anniversary Celebration.
Ashley and Eisner tied the knot in December 2022 and welcomed their first baby less than a year later.
Could There Be a Return to Acting?
“We’ve been there, we’ve done that, we started out that way,” Mary-Kate told Vogue in 2019 about her and Ashley returning to their roots. “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.”
Ashley chimed in, adding, “We didn’t want to be in front of it, we didn’t necessarily even want to let people know it was us. It was really about the product, to the point where we were like: Who could we get to front this so that we don’t have to?”
She continued: “We like working together and we like having that dialogue. I think it helps harden your ideas to be able to hear them out loud, to speak something through.”
