The noughties It Girls are having a real moment right now.
Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie are back on the reality TV circuit, Lindsay Lohan has new tunes out and Hilary Duff, well, our sacred queen never really went anywhere.
One could argue that the ladies are almost as popular now as they were back in the days of Juicy Couture and G-strings, mostly thanks to social media and society’s obsession with nostalgia.
But interestingly, the noughties It Girl who has always intrigued me the most is one who isn’t even on Instagram and Twitter. I am, of course, referring to Mary-Kate Olsen, one half of the infamous Olsen Twins.
No, I’m not fascinated because her quiet public profile has left me wanting more. Quite the opposite, in fact. It’s because the stories that leak to the gossip rags have painted a fascinating and mysterious picture of the child star.
Here are a bunch of wild items from Mary-Kate’s past that you either didn’t know, or have probably filed away in a mental box and forgotten about.
Chain-smoking at the Metropolitan Museum
The twins’ pap pics have become something of an Insta mood in recent years. The sisters are often photographed on the streets of New York in their classic black ensemble, complete with oversized sunglasses, while clutching a Starbucks coffee in one hand and a ciggie in the other.
Fun fact: Their smoking habit once landed them in strife when they were caught chain-smoking in the bathroom at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala.
“Mary-Kate and Ashley (Olsen) get up in the middle of dinner and walk in, and Mary-Kate is saying she wants a cigarette,” an onlooker divulged to New York Daily News at the time.
“She then proceeds to chain-smoke in the bathroom of the Metropolitan Museum!”
A spokesperson for the museum wasn’t pleased when they heard about it. “We don’t allow smoking, it’s unfortunate that we didn’t spot it,” they said.
Paris Hilton beef
You weren’t a noughties It Girl if you didn’t tangle with Paris Hilton in some way.
While Mary-Kate was dating shipping tycoon Stavros Niarchos III, he allegedly cheated on her and eventually dumped her for Paris. MK was so pissed about the whole thing that she dropped out of NYU and returned to her native LA to avoid the drama.
“[Paris and I] always only had nice things to say about each other,” Mary-Kate told W at the time.
“Now I guess you can tell we’re not talking… I miss [Stavros] and I love him and I don’t speak with him anymore. It’s a hurtful and painful subject. I’ve pretty much been with someone my whole life, so this is a hard time for me.”
Maybe vommed on a certain movie star
There’s an urban legend that while MK was attending Naomi Campbell’s 35th birthday party, she ended up vomiting on actress Penelope Cruz.
An insider told New York Daily News that the fash mogul had had a “teensy bit to drink” and while sitting next to Cruz on a bench, she looked like “she was on the verge of throwing up.”
Whether or not she actually chundered is unknown, but I doubt Penelope was impressed.
Bizarre business activity
The twins famously became CEOs of their production company Dualstar Entertainment Group at the ripe age of 18, around the time Mary-Kate hit the party scene.
According to TMZ, the twins would show up every 30 days, hole themselves up in an office, and chain-smoke ciggies for hours.
They’re still high-powered business women all these years later, so they clearly learned to command a boardroom eventually.
Heath Ledger relationship
When Heath Ledger tragically passed away in 2008, his death left a lot of unanswered questions, many of them involving MK.
Olsen was reportedly one of the first people to know about his death as his masseuse Diana Wolozin called her immediately after discovering his body — even before 911.
The actress then told Wolozin she’d call some private security people she knew in New York to assist, before hanging up. After shaking Ledger again, Wolozin reportedly called Olsen a second time and told her she was calling 911. Police said Wolozin spent nine minutes making three calls to Olsen, with a fourth call being made after the paramedics arrived.
At the time, rumours also spread that Ledger was found dead in a New York apartment belonging to Olsen (which was later proven false).
Details of their supposed romance were never confirmed publicly, but shortly after Ledger’s death, it was alleged that Olsen and Ledger had been seeing each other romantically for three months before he died.
Although her lawyer said in a statement that Olsen had “nothing whatsoever to do with the drugs found in Ledger’s home or his body” and did not know where he had obtained them from, he did not elaborate on her reasons for refusing to be interviewed by police.
“Regarding the government’s investigation, at Ms Olsen’s request, we have provided the government with relevant information including facts in the chronology of events surrounding Mr Ledger’s death and the fact that Ms Olsen does not know the source of the drugs Mr. Ledger consumed,” he said.
Olsen has never commented on her alleged relationship with Ledger.
Attending college for a New York minute
In 2004 the twins enrolled in New York University, paving the way for celebrity students in years to come.
“Their reasons for going to college are not vocational,” their longtime spokesman Michael Pagnotta said. “They know a lot about lots of things from working in the real world since they were toddlers. This is their chance to explore.”
Apparently a year of study was all the exploring MK needed as she dropped out the following year.
Among the many vague reasons for just up and leaving, it’s rumoured that her split from the aforementioned Stavros Niarchos III led to her resignation.
What a Pratt
The Hills star Spencer Pratt once bragged about selling a photo of Mary-Kate getting hammered at a party when they attended the same high school, telling Details magazine in 2007 that he made $50,000.
In 2008, Mary-Kate would infamously describe him as “wormy” and “oily” during an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman.
Check it out below:
Ciggie bowl wedding ornaments
In November 2015, Mary-Kate and Olivier got hitched at a secretly ceremony in front of 50 close friends and family, with their wedding reception becoming infamous after the detail that bowls of cigarettes acted as the centerpieces.
“Everyone smoked the whole night,” a likely raspy-voiced insider told us at the time.
Which leads us to our final MK cooked case.
MK’s emergency divorce
Today, it was announced that Olsen was divorcing her husband after five years of marriage.
According to multiple reports, Olsen claims Sarkozy is trying to force her out of their New York City apartment by May 18, because he terminated their lease without her knowledge. But she can’t meet Monday’s deadline because of the current city regulations, re: the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. She says she asked Sarkozy to give her until May 30 to move out safely, but claims he hasn’t responded to her.
In documents somehow obtained by TMZ, Olsen alleges the only way she can protect her belongings is by seeking a divorce. She initially signed a petition for divorce on April 17, but New York City courts are not currently accepting filings – apart from emergency filings – due to the pandemic. So Olsen has now filed an emergency order to end her marriage. She has also reportedly requested that their prenuptial agreement be enforced.
