Mary-Kate Olsen has come a long way since her days as a child star alongside her twin sister, Ashley Olsen. The two built an empire on TV shows, movies and more, only to slowly disappear from the spotlight. But let's be clear, the Olsen twins did not go away—they just went about life differently.
Mary-Kate and Ashley launched The Row and Elizabeth and James, two incredibly successful and high-end fashion lines, but that put their names back in headlines for different reasons. Instead of being tabloid fodder for eating disorders, feuds and secret relationships, the Olsen twins were being lauded for their hobo-chic looks; however, the transformation didn't come easily, especially for Mary-Kate.
Before Mary-Kate entered rehab to receive treatment for anorexia in 2004, the Full House alumnus' picture was splashed across magazines calling her out for her skinny frame. She chose to ignore the headlines.
"Everyone's looking for a good story—we don't read the good, we don't read the bad," a then 17-year-old Mary-Kate, told E! News in April 2004. "We just can't let things like that affect us. As long as we're happy and we're making decisions for ourselves [that] we don't feel bad about or guilty, and even if it was, it would be for me to decide, or Ash to decide."
She entered rehab two months later.
Even though Ashley walked away from acting, Mary-Kate continued to dip her toes in the Hollywood water. She made an appearance on Weeds, which was far different from anything she had ever done.
"I've never really been challenged before. I've never done something with depth," Mary-Kate told E! News in 2007 about her role on the Showtime series. "I've been going on auditions and this was something I connected with."
In 2012, the sisters officially retired from acting. That same year, Mary-Kate, 30, began dating Olivier Sarkozy, 47, the half-brother to former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The age difference sparked controversy, with tabloids calling their "grotesque" relationship a "twisted romance". It's no wonder, then, that the already incredibly private star made her relationship even more private.
Olivier and Mary-Kate were spotted at basketball games and going for walks around New York City, but they rarely posed for red carpet photos together. The millionaire fashion designer and wealthy businessman remained aloof, much like the Olsen twins' personalities since receiving awards from the CFDA. But the couple did find happiness spending plenty of time in France together.
"Mary-Kate has a fabulous life with Olivier and they spend a lot of time in Paris where they are both very happy," a source told us. "She has become immersed in his world."
After the initial shock of their union wore off, the couple became a staple New York couple. They packed on PDA wherever they went, seemingly unbothered by anyone who noticed. But because they rarely spoke about each other in public, it may have come as a surprise when they got engaged on the sly. It was even more surprising that they were able to pull off a secret wedding, which E! News later confirmed took place at a private New York residence on Nov. 27, 2015.
But with very little insight into Mary-Kate's life—both personal and public—it was incredibly refreshing to hear her finally talk about it.
"I have a husband, two step-kids and a life; I have to go home and cook dinner," the 30-year-old designer said in NET-A-PORTER.com's digital magazine, The EDIT. "I run on the weekend. You find the thing that helps you relax and if you don't have it, you have to look for it. Or you get burned out and then you're not productive."
Mary-Kate and Ashley also chalk up their elusive lifestyles to a choice both she and her twin made: no social media.
"Because we don't dive into that whole world and we don't have Facebook, we've never been connected to our fans in that way," Ashley told The EDIT. "We've stayed quite sheltered in that sense."
That doesn't mean they're not trying to connect with their fans, though; they're just doing it another way.
"We just want to help women feel however they want to feel," Mary-Kate added. "Every once in a while, we want to change our perfume or our haircut; we want to wear heels or flats. We just like to switch it up. That's the beauty of clothes."