Sad reason Mary-Kate and Ashley quit acting after being two of Hollywood's biggest stars
For a while in the 90s and the early 00s Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were two of the most famous child stars in the world, then they both quit acting and largely dropped out of the public eye.
Their younger sister Elizabeth then ended up becoming a rising star in her own right with the likes of Martha Marcy May Marlene before landing a big part in the MCU as well as major roles the likes of I Saw The Light and Love & Death.
Once upon a time it was Mary-Kate and Ashley who looked destined to spend the rest of their lives in front of the cameras, but they've both gone into the fashion industry and renounced future acting careers.
In 2012 they told Elle they were leaving acting and didn't plan to return, with Mary-Kate saying it 'just felt right to move away' from the spotlight.
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Ashley said it was 'time to step behind the process', adding that if she ever did return to showbiz she wouldn't be doing it as an actor.
"I wanted to work on other things. It doesn’t mean I’m not interested in Hollywood," she said.
"I like the way it operates, I like the people who are involved and the sense of possibility. But if I ever get back in, it’s not going to be as an actress.”
She later told Allure that she had been reading through scripts when she told her agents 'I need to do things 100 percent' and she felt like she couldn't give acting enough of her time.
She'd said: "There’s a lot of compromise in the entertainment industry. I can’t sit in this room and audition for this part."
Mary-Kate's last credited role was the 2011 project Beastly, while Ashley's last named and credited role was 2004's New York Minute, so their acting careers do seem to be well and truly over.
It's not like they'd have massive amounts of time to dedicate to acting if they did decide to make a comeback, since they founded their fashion brand The Row in 2006, followed by the Elizabeth and James label the following year.
They've done pretty well since then.
Ashley said not being in front of the camera was 'liberating' as she'd found she doesn't 'like to be the centre of attention anymore'.
Their younger sister Elizabeth is still acting, who said that Mary-Kate and Ashley were 'forced' to support her career in its early years, telling The Times they were made to go and see everything she was in.
She said her older sisters were 'supportive' of everything she did, but she almost quit acting herself after seeing the amount of pressure being put on the twins.
Olsen said she'd even considered acting under the name 'Elizabeth Chase', which Chase being her middle name, in order to escape that same spotlight.
Topics: Celebrity
Joe Harker