Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen feuding over fortune

I’ve always been really surprised that there wasn’t more drama between twin sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. I can’t imagine any sisters that don’t argue – I can only wonder how hard it would be to run a multi-million dollar business empire with your twin. The 21-year-olds have spent more time apart in the last few years and have been photographed actually hanging out with people besides each other. However their business interests have remained almost entirely intertwined. While it seems like the two have been nearly joined at the hip, apparently there’s been some trouble between them, and they’ve been fighting over business and real estate decisions.

“They’ve finally had enough of each other,” says a friend. “They just don’t see eye-to-eye anymore and are tired of constantly butting heads.” Now friends say the rift between the twins seems to be growing bigger by the day. “Ashley isn’t an angel, but she’s tired of having to take care of Mary-Kate,” says the friend. “One second Mary-Kate is maniacally happy, and the next she’s sobbing. Her mood swings are dragging Mary-Kate down, and finally, Ashley’s decided she doesn’t want to go down with her.”

But no matter how they feel, the twins can’t simply ignore each other, sources say. At stake is their $100 million personal fortune – also a bone of contention between the squabbling sisters, say the insider. “Ashley’s been considering separating their assets and trusts and getting her own business manger,” the insider says.

[From Star, April 7 2008, print edition]

The Enquirer also has a similar story, saying the pair are fighting over the company and have deep-seated resentments towards one another. Apparently Mary-Kate feels Ashley manipulated her into making bad business decisions, and regrets the twins’ choice to cut their parents out of their company Dualstar.

And one of the biggest rifts between the sisters centers on their decision to “fire” their parents – David and Jarnette, who are divorced – when they took charge [of Dualstar]. Although they both agreed to the move at the time, Mary-Kate now blames Ashley for pushing her into it, says a family insider.

Mary-Kate went along with the firing in part because she was angry that her family forced her into Utah’s Cirque Lodge rehab in June of 2004 to get treatment for an eating disorder. “Mary-Kate had some real issues with the family after they put her in rehab. But now she feels like that may have colored her decision to cut them out of Dualstar. Mary-Kate now regrets her decision — on the other hand, Ashley thinks it was the right move. That’s what Mary-Kate and Ashley mainly fight about.”

[From the National Enquirer, April 7 2008, print edition]

Neither magazine says if the girls’ parents are still speaking with them, though the Enquirer notes that their dad and stepmom have publicly criticized the way they’ve run Dualstar since firing their parents. Both articles are a great example of exactly why it’s not a good idea to mix business and family. Some manage to pull it off with amazing success, but it sounds like the Olsens are starting to unravel a bit. They also bickered about the sale of their Manhattan apartment – whether to sell it, and then for how much. Their identities have always been so wrapped up in each other – at least publicly – that it seems inevitable that they’d eventually want to carve out their own niche in the world. The fighting seems sort of unavoidable to me. It seems like Ashley’s idea to separate their finances could be a really good thing, and then they could try just being sisters instead of business partners.

Here are Mary-Kate and Ashley with Karl Lagerfeld and with Mario Testino and Claudia Schiffer at the Chanel Fashion show, during Paris Fashion Week Fall-Winter 2008-2009 ready to wear collection, at the Grand Palais in Paris on March 8th. Images thanks to Splash.

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32 Responses to “Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen feuding over fortune”

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  1. Dee says:

    I just HAD to point out a pet peeve of mine.

    Why do these girls always dress and accessorize the same as the other?

    Frankly, about the money. I’m not surprised, Forbes has said they were 100 mill together. Spolit little brats.

  2. Roma says:

    My parents used to give my brother and I $10 when ever we went grocery shopping to buy snacks that we had to share. One time I really wanted Cream Soda and he wanted Grape Crush and he pushed me down in the middle of the aisle. I broke my wrist. Can you imagine what he would have done to me for 100 million??

  3. Anonymous says:

    Well there would always be a time that they had to eventually separate and go their own ways in life and career with each possessing their own fair share of the money. I too think that maybe it would be a good idea to finally share their earnings and still be able to work together.

  4. Ur A Loser says:

    To think that i get excited when i get my pathetic check every two weeks worth $500. Spoiled Bitches!

  5. Breederina says:

    They’ve literally been working all their lives and between their parents and themselves have been great at business. It’s one thing to earn it and a whole other to multiply it. Don’t forget they’re identical twins, that’s a heavy bond.

  6. headache says:

    It’s probably time to sell the company, split the profits and go their own ways professionally in order to preserve their bond as sisters.

  7. hellcat says:

    I really don’t think it’s fair to call them spoiled. Paris Hilton is spoiled. MK and Ashley Olsen have been working for that money since before they were a year old.

    Are they lucky? Yeah. Are they making more money in a year than I probably will in my entire life? Definitely. But did they have it handed to them on a silver platter? Absolutely not.

  8. Ur A Loser says:

    SPOILED B!%CHES!

  9. xiaoecho says:

    never mind them, who’s the cutie sitting behind them?

    • someKid says:

      MK and Ashley Olsen are ‘the twins’ a separation between them would be awful – the thing they need to focus on now is family, then business. hopefully it all works out, and yes one day they will split up and go separate ways but although they’re going separate ways they need to think:-
      1. They will lose a hell of a lot of money from this.
      2. people will soon start to see them differently
      3. people will then prefere one and the the other…
      4. They’re business is still thriving, I love their brands!
      5. they could lose their friendship of this…
      6. they’re as the ‘olsen twins’ without that they’re Mary-Kate and Ashley.
      and that is the thing, them not being together could most possibly destroy them.

  10. Bellatrix says:

    xiaoecho : take it from me, that cutie is looking just a little bit too intense at the fashion show to be considered by any female…

    Although, this guy is familiar. I just can’t seem to recall his name.

    Anyway, JayBird, the Chanel Prêt-à-Porter show for Fall-Winter 08 took place on Friday February 29th.
    The Paris Fashion Week closed on March the 2nd, so it would have been impossible to have the show o March 8th.

  11. xiaoecho says:

    Bellatrix….this did occur to me LOL

  12. Jaclyn says:

    Breederina, they’re not identical twins. They’re fraternal. Ashley is one inch taller than MK…
    But anyways, I’m not surprised to read this. I’m sure they’ll figure something out.

  13. Breederina says:

    I stand corrected. You really do learn something new everyday.

  14. Anonymous says:

    actually, you can be identical twins and not be the same height.

  15. Sam says:

    My wife and her sister are identical twins yet one is right handed the other is left handed. They are called mirror-image twins. Then on top of that my wife’s sister was pregnant with twins when my wife became pregnant with triplets.

    I always tell people my wife had to always one up her twin sister.

    Anyway, its hard to believe that there were never any “sturm und drang” between Mary Kate and Ashley. My triplet daughters sometimes get into it so much that it seems like I am going to suddenly be the father of twins or a singleton. 🙂

  16. gg says:

    Okay, the photo of Karl and the twins is hilarious. They’re all trying to out-weird, out-sunglass, and out lip-pooch each other.

    And Karl, buddy, the cutout gloves with a suit? come on…. We’ve ignored it all these years, but it’s time to put them away now.

  17. xiaoecho says:

    gg…..the gloves are there so his old man hands don’t give the lie to his botox’t face

  18. Bodhi says:

    Its probably a good idea to split the company, or keep it together but split the proceeds. Its not like they are gonna go broke any time soon, but they are only 21 & alot can happen over the years

  19. JustSaying says:

    They are growing up and ready to live their own lives. There is nothing wrong with that. Split the proceeds and go do your thang twins.

  20. Sarah says:

    They argue over how much they’re going to sell their apartment for? They have a fortune of over $100 million, and they’re arguing over money? They have no real talent, they were just childstars. What have they done recently? And their fortune is more than anyone could ever spend in a lifetime. I find people like this absolutely unfathomable; they’re materialistic and ostentatious, and they have no talent! I don’t understand why they’re even in the tabloids; they don’t contribute anything to society, except filling up rooms in nationwide rehabilitation centres.

  21. karen says:

    HOW CAN YOU CALL THEM SPOILT.
    EVERYTHING THEY HAVE THEY WORKED FOR SINCE THEY WERE 9MONTHS OLD. THEY DIDNT GET HANDED THAT MONEY THEY WORKED FOR IT THEIR WHOLE LIFE..

  22. Megan says:

    Not spoiled, I agree….they have worked for everything their whole life. And Sarah – They do not just make movies, they have a whole comapany dedicated to producing things to make them money……so they don’t necessarily have to be in movies, or as you put it, have talent…..I grew up with these girls….I am only a year older than them and I would never talk bad about them or anything…..They have worked hard for what they have and they deserve it.

  23. brandy says:

    I find it funny that people claim that Mary Kate and Ashley are not identical because one is taller, one is left handed, and one was born two minutes earlier. Identical twins does not mean EVERY aspect is exactly identical. It means their DNA is identical; however, there are other factors that determine various genetic characteristics.. i.e height, weight, handedness..

    Without DNA testing I refuse to believe that they are not identical twins .. there are too many similarities than differences..

  24. Emma says:

    Brandy – that’s fair, but the fact is that the twins actually ARE fraternal. Incredibly alike, scarily so actually, but they came from two eggs, not one – so are technically not identical. You can find this fact on a number of websites, and in interviews with the girls themselves.

  25. amber says:

    Emma, how do you know “they came from two eggs”? How could you possibly know that? Because of “interviews with the girls”? Are they able to remember that far back in time?! They are identical. Identicals can have several inches difference in height, and like someone mentioned earlier, one being right-handed and the other left-handed makes them mirror-image twins (which is always in the identical category). These twins have done a lot to make themselves look different from each other, and they’ve tried hard to establish their own “uniqueness” in the eyes of the public, so it seems only natural that they would tell people that they are fraternal. But until they get a DNA test, and get a doctor to tell us (on Entertainment Tonight, or whatever!) that they are fraternal, not many people are going to believe that. But it’s not likethey couldn’t pay someone to lie, though…:roll:

  26. amber says:

    Emma, how do you know “they came from two eggs”? How could you possibly know that? Because of “interviews with the girls”? Are they able to remember that far back in time?! They are identical. Identicals can have several inches difference in height, and like someone mentioned earlier, one being right-handed and the other left-handed makes them mirror-image twins (which is always in the identical category). These twins have done a lot to make themselves look different from each other, and they’ve tried hard to establish their own “uniqueness” in the eyes of the public, so it seems only natural that they would tell people that they are fraternal. But until they get a DNA test, and get a doctor to tell us (on Entertainment Tonight, or whatever!) that they are fraternal, not many people are going to believe that. But it’s not like they couldn’t pay someone to lie, though… 🙄

  27. Tamsin says:

    I don’t think they’re spoiled-they may have had better chances in life than you, but they have worked their whole lives for this money. AS they grew up they wern’t even given a particurlarly big allowance.
    Also, they don’t have to remember that far back, amber. Scans when tehy were in the womb could tell that they were fraternal, as could DNA Tests. Doctor’s AND their parents have said that they are fraternal. you can look alike and not be identical. It even says that they are fraternal in their biography.
    They have proved they are fraternal and if they are fraternal they don’t have to be mirror image twins to look different. Fraternal twins can look identical, and identical twins can look totally different-myself and my identical twin, for instance, look different despite all our efforts to look identical.
    Doctor’s can tell if you are an identical or fraternal twin, and although my twin and I have identical DNA we look different due to environmental changes.
    Being an identical Twin is a deep bond and i doubt anyone would lie about that. I also suspect that they would get it a lot of trouble if they printed lies in their biography, and their parents wouldn’t have said they were fraternal, as they did on a documentary i watched recently.
    Thank you for reading.

  28. Reasonvoiceof says:

    MONOZYGOTIC! All the way! Scans can’t tell if they’re fraternal, you silly person.

  29. Michael says:

    Biology is not smart enough for the Olsens, they can still be fraternal twins if they put it on their website right? No, not really, there are only two way to truly know. One is DNA testing. It is necessary to remember DNA testing was in its infancy when they were in their infancy. So their parents couldn’t have possibly known back then. The other means is to give a geneticist and a mathematician ten minutes to study Mary Kate & Ashley, while they babble about being fraternal twins. The laughter heard as they leave is faster and more satisfying than a DNA test.

  30. Cayce says:

    Mary-Kate and Ashley are both being stupid. They need to put aside their differences once and for all, work things out, and go back to the way they used to be. Also they have to stop Smoking and Drinking before they both get a Heart Attack or Lung Cancer or Alcohol Poisining.

  31. Robin says:

    Can you come to Vancouver to see robin Ketchum I am a big fan to you and your sister I want to meet you and your sister. Love robin ketchim