The Tragic True Life Story Of The Olsen Twins
By Isabella Wilson
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have been the subject of tabloid speculation dating at least as far back as their parents' divorce. In their teen years, they became fashion and beauty proto-influencers. Though they'd been churning out content through their production company (specifically dozens of straight-to-video movies and specials), they'd become better known as media personalities. Their adoring public (and, worse, their detractors) wanted to know what they were up to, and the intrusion only got more intense as they approached their 18th birthdays.
As online media and communication became more ubiquitous in the early 2000s, Mary-Kate and Ashley were subjected to a virtual Wild West of cyber-treatment. Websites were created to countdown to the day they'd turn 18 for the explicit purpose of celebrating the moment they'd become legal adults. The Olsens, who were fixtures in paparazzi photos, were already being sexualized by a segment of the public; these inappropriate countdown clocks merely upped the ante.
It's hard enough to be a child whose life is on display. It's much harder to be a teenager or young adult. All of the Olsens' choices and behaviors were scrutinized by the public and sometimes spun into stories that simply weren't true. In one instance, Ashley sued The National Inquirer for $40 million over a misleading photograph and headline that implied she'd passed out from drug use. Though the outcome of the trial was never disclosed, the publication later ran an apology and a correction.
