“I’ve always been a worker. It has taken me a lot to figure out how to take a vacation,” said everyone, ever. Oh wait, no, that was actually Ashley Olsen, who divulged a few details about her superbly secretive life to Net-A-Porter’s The Edit.
The twins were being profiled by the online magazine on the premise of their cool and contemporary Elizabeth and James line, but the story ended up being a deeper look into just how obsessed with work Ashley and Mary-Kate actually are. Which makes sense, considering their professional careers truly began when the Olsens were just six months old, on the set of Full House.
“We’re very organized; every minute is accounted for,” one of them is credited with saying, though it’s unclear which one of the former child stars admitted that. The duo explained how they spend almost all of their work week cooped up in one building; they spend a few days per week at the Elizabeth and James office and can be found in The Row‘s office the rest of the time, located just a few floors below.
“I think we’re lucky [working hard] comes quite naturally for us,” said Mary-Kate. “We don’t need so much time to sit and think and ponder.”
Then, she offered up some truly juicy details about her personal life: “I have a husband, two step-kids and a life; I have to go home and cook dinner. I ride horses on the weekends,” she shared. It seems this downtime spent with her French banker husband, Olivier Sarkozy, is what keeps her from burning out. Actresses turned fashion designers, they’re just like us.
Workaholic admissions aside, the Olsens also explained how they seem to have such an astute, and successful, eye for fashion design. The sisters used to attend two fittings per week, during the 15 years they spent in the Hollywood publicity cycle. During those hours of selecting dresses, teeny crop tops and faded jeans for various red carpet events and public appearances, they picked up on how vital fit and fabric was.
“We would take adult clothing and cut it down to our size, change the proportions. I think from a young age we understood fit in a very different way because we’re so petite,” Mary-Kate pointed out. And considering how critically acclaimed their two fashion lines are, all that hard work is definitely paying off.
