How Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Built Two Billion-Dollar Empires (Part 1)

Back Row with Amy Odell

This episode of 'Back Row' explores the remarkable journey of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen from child stars on 'Full House' to founders of The

Key takeaways

• The Olsens built two billion-dollar brands—first through mass-market celebrity appeal, then through high-end luxury minimalism via The Row.
• Their transition from overexposed child stars to intensely private figures was intentional and strategic, not a reaction to burnout or rebellion.

Main topics

• Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's early fame on Full House
• The transition from child stars to business moguls

Notable quotes

"They were millionaires before they could read. And by the time they were teenagers, they weren't just famous. They were a fully operational brand generating hundreds of millions of dollars a year."

Conclusion

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's legacy isn't just about fashion—it's a masterclass in brand-building

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:02) Welcome to the Back Row Podcast, where we decode the intersection of fashion, celebrity, and power. I'm Amy O'Dell, and today we're talking about two of the most misunderstood figures in the industry. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen didn't just go from child stars to fashion designers. They built one of the most sophisticated celebrity business machines of the last 30 years, and then quietly dismantled it to become the founders of one of the most successful brands in luxury minimalism. The Row, which celebrates its 20th anniversary just about this year. The Olsens were on television before they could talk. They were millionaires before they could read. And by the time they were teenagers, they weren't just famous. They were a fully operational brand generating hundreds of millions of dollars a year. So how did infant actors from Full House become the founders of The Row? And why did they break away from the very system that made them so wealthy and so famous? I invited former Us Weekly editor-in-chief Dan Wakeford on the show to talk about it with me. Dan assigned me a story on the Olsens in 2024, which allowed me to dig into how they actually run the row. He's spent 30 years in celebrity journalism and just launched a newsletter called Celebrity Intelligence, where he breaks down the pop culture stories that matter for smart audiences like all of you. Dan and I are going to get into all things Olsens today. The full house casting story, the billion dollar dual star machine, and the NYU years. And part two for premium subscribers will delve deeper into how their New York paparazzi era led to fashion industry cred and how they really turned their mass market fame into a billion dollar high luxury brand. I'm here with Dan Wakeford. Dan, thanks so much for being here. Speaker 2 (1:40) Thank you for having me. Speaker 1 (1:41) I'm really excited. We have a lot to talk about today. I want to start by talking a little bit about you. You just launched the Celebrity Intelligence newsletter on Beehive, and I just moved from Substack to Beehive, so I'm excited that you're there. Tell the audience why they should subscribe to Celebrity Intelligence. What are you doing there? Speaker 2 (1:58) So celebrity culture is everywhere and I'm well aware of that, but a lot of it really is garbage, AI slop, unverified rumours, breathless takes on stories that never even happened. And people love this stuff and you really want to enjoy it, but it feels a bit icky. So celebrity intelligence exists to provide you a safe, reliable space for this. I want to try and be your smartest friend who happens to know a lot about the entertainment industry and celebrities. And I've got all the receipts. I've done this for... nearly 30 years. So it's an environment for no BS, no bad sources. And I'm a big believer that the higher your IQ, the greater your need for celebrity gossip. And these folks you can learn from and you shouldn't feel guilty about it. And it's kind of self-care in this difficult world to escape into these amazing stories. Speaker 1 (2:47) Yeah, we definitely need escape. And that's kind of why, in part, we're doing this deep dive into the Olsens today. So you and I collaborated. Let's go back in time to the summer of 2024. A simpler time, let's say. And you reached out to me and you said, well, I want to do this story on the Olsens. And you wanted me to help you with it because they're fashion icons. And they're really known now for the robe. It's the 20th anniversary of The Row. And how did you get the idea to do that cover story on them in the summer of 2024? Speaker 2 (3:24) I was relaunching Us Weekly at the time and felt that this was a perfect element, a perfect cover story to begin this relaunch because of the nature of the brand. The brand was huge with millennials in the 2000s. this is when the Olsons were huge. And this was really the Olsons' primary audience. And the idea here is that you have celebrities who were beloved, but who have disappeared, and folks really wanted to know more about. And part of their fashion mystique is being very mysterious and not giving much away about their lives. So I felt there was a gap in the public conscious of what... these folks were really like, what were the Olsons really like? And also, they were beloved. So there was an intrigue there. So I knew that it would be sales gold. And also, I wanted to appeal Us Weekly to a broader, higher, smarter audience. And I think that fashion set that you're an expert in really would help be a great crossover. Speaker 1 (4:22) So the story, it was really fun to do. First, I was kind of like, oh, Dan, I'm so busy because I was working on Gwyneth, the biography, and I didn't know if I could do it. But I was intrigued and I said yes. And the story was written in collaboration with Jamie Harkin. It drew on interviews with 20 sources from members of the Olsen's inner circle to current and former employees at the row to people they used to party with in NYC. Dan was one of the people they used to party with in NYC. You? Speaker 2 (4:52) I mean, I wasn't doing shots with Mary-Kate, but I was in and around them. A lot of my friends work in fashion. And at that time in NYU, they were drawn to a lot of people in fashion because obviously Ashley was doing business and Mary-Kate was doing creative stuff at college. And they had their eye on the prize of launching this label, which then became The Row. And so they were mixing with downtown gays. And a lot of them were my friends. And I was in around them. I was at the Beatrice Inn, the Jane Hotel. all of those haunts at that time. And I was certainly there in that crowd at times and witnessed them and hung out with them-ish. Speaker 1 (5:27) Yeah, so we're going to get to that. We're going to get to the NYU years. So I did a deep dive into the Olsens for this podcast. And I feel like I understand them a lot better. I feel like I understand why they're secretive, how they became fashion icons. And so we're going to get into all of it. We're going to talk first about their roles on Full House as infants and move on to their place in fashion and culture today. Now, I would say they're kind of idolized, right, as founders of the row. And they hold the unique distinction for pop culture celebrities of founding billion-dollar companies not once, but twice. Dan, something I learned about you as we were preparing for this podcast is that you are a twin. Speaker 2 (6:09) I am a twin. I have a twin brother called Ben, and I'm the same type of twin as Mary-Kate and Ashley, who are actually fraternal twins, which means there was two eggs, not one egg that split into two. But like Mary-Kate and Ashley, me and my brother do look identical. Everyone would presume that Mary-Kate and Ashley are identical. Speaker 1 (6:27) Yeah. What's your earliest memory of being a twin? I think Speaker 2 (6:30) I just always remember somebody else being there, which is kind of a nice comfort and companionship. that playing on the carpet as a two-year-old wearing really itchy jumpers made by my auntie Mert, I think was probably my Speaker 1 (6:41) first with Speaker 2 (6:42) my brother. Speaker 1 (6:45) But did you have millions of dollars in your bank account by the time you were seven? Speaker 2 (6:49) I didn't and I still don't. Speaker 1 (6:51) Important distinction between you and the Olsens. Okay, so let's talk about their infancy and their full house years. They were born June 13th, 1986. They have an older brother named Trent, who's about two years older, and a younger sister, Elizabeth, the actress, of course, who many will know of, who's about two and a half years younger. So one of the earliest mentions I found of them in my archival reading was in the Green Bay Press-Gazette. This is dated September 1987, and it's about the launch of Full House. And this article describes the show as an irreverently funny look at life with father and his slightly off-center friends. Danny Winchester, played by Bob Saget, is a recently widowed father of three. Beautiful but rambunctious girls, DJ, played by Candace Cameron, Stephanie, played by Jodi Sweeten, and a nine-month-old baby, Michelle, who was played by both Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. While trying to juggle his career as a single parent, he turns to his buddies for help. Those buddies would be John Stamos, who played Jesse, his brother-in-law, and Joey Gladstone, played by Dan Coulier. So I want you to pull up this article. So do you see a photo in the bottom right-hand corner of this old newspaper article? Speaker 2 (8:08) Yes. I Speaker 1 (8:09) want you to describe this photo. Speaker 2 (8:12) So there is a whole family, like, leaning over a crib. And there's toys all around with a funny Mr. Potato Head, a giant one, loads of teddy bears, loads of dolls. And they are all cooing over this baby in a white cradle. Speaker 1 (8:31) Yes. And so this is the cast of Full House. This is a quote unquote family portrait. So it's Candace Cameron, David Coulier, Jodie Sweeten, Bob Saget and John Stamos. And it kind of looks like Dan Coulier is changing this baby's diaper. This is the earliest photo I could find of one of the twins. So this is a crazy way to start life, I think. Speaker 2 (8:57) I mean, they're six months old and they're on a television set of a huge show. Speaker 1 (9:05) Yeah, and we're seeing them get their diapers changed. So do you know, so I know you were not in the US when Full House was airing and they were first becoming stars, right? Speaker 2 (9:15) I wasn't. And interesting fact that this show did not really translate to the UK at all. And so I didn't know about the Olsens until 2002. But I've since caught up with everything. Speaker 1 (9:28) So I want to tell you the story of their casting. And this is from an article from 1990. They were chosen out of a group of kids who were playing on the floor. And they were actually the first kids cast. They were cast before Candace Cameron and Jodie Sweetin. The EP, executive producer of the show, Jeff Franklin, told the Washington Post in 1990, I'd always had this fantasy of seeing this baby grow up on a show. And the story says, but on television, toddler actors are discarded as quickly and easily as last week's stage sets. What have you learned about child stars as someone who has been doing celebrity coverage for so long? Speaker 2 (10:07) I mean, there's an audience fascination with child stars. for sure. If you put a child star on the cover, there's an element of nostalgia, but there's also an element that is starkly obvious that so many have issues and that this isn't necessarily a good life choice. So readers are particularly intrigued to... find out more about them because they're exposed to too much too young and it's detrimental to their growth and there's so many case studies of ruined lives amanda bines lindsey lohan corey hayne demi lovato river phoenix have all dealt with big challenges in the public eye so it always leads me to question like why do parents still let their kids become famous and even further than that like should we even ban child stars I mean we often say that people stay at the emotional age of the time that they became famous and for the Olsens that was at six months old Speaker 1 (11:01) If you enjoy this podcast, you'll also love my Back Row newsletter. It's a publication covering fashion, power, and the money behind it all. The stuff that legacy media wouldn't print. Fashion and culture journalism without the PR gloss. Sign up for a premium subscription and you'll get access to all paywalled podcasts along with the newsletter. Subscribe at backrow.net slash subscribe and I'll also drop the link in the show notes. Speaker 1 (11:28) It's really crazy. So let's go a little bit more in depth into their casting story. So their parents are Jarnett Olson and Dan Olson. And Dan Olson did the bulk of the talking to the media. I don't know that I found anything of the mom doing an interview, which is not to say that she didn't do it. But in the archive that I was looking through, I didn't see it. So I found another story in the L.A. Times that said that Jarnett, their mom, went shopping with a friend and tagged along. as the woman dropped by the office of her child's agent. Darnette happened to mention that she and her husband Dave had six-month-old twin daughters. The agent asked to see pictures, then offered to send the girls to audition for the role of the baby on a show about a widower raising three daughters with the help of two buddies. Okay, and Dan, I want you to read this next part that I'm highlighting here from this story. Speaker 2 (12:17) Not many people thought Franklin's sitcom would last long enough to have a chance of making his dream come true. The casting was done in the usual way. They had to have a set of twins to play baby Michelle, the youngest daughter in the fictional Tanner family, in order to keep each child working its time under the legal maximum and ensure no expensive interruptions if one child became sick or difficult. In the spring of 1987, 20 infants and toddlers, the result of... 10 multiple births, were brought into a room at the Lorimer Studios in Culver City, a somewhat sterile television industry town south of the Santa Monica freeway, and they were allowed to interact. The producers got on the floor to join in the play and began to notice one pair of six-month-old blondes. There was a spark there, Franklin recalled. They were more open to strangers. They were smiling all the time. Time was short. None of the applicants was capable of reading for the part. With little but their instincts to go on, Franklin and his colleagues selected the daughters of Dave and Jarnie Olsen of Sherman Oaks, California, a former golf pro turned mortgage broker and a former ballet dancer turned housewife. They were about as far from the image of relentless stage parents as one could imagine. Speaker 1 (13:29) I think this is really crazy. like you have babies i'm a parent so my kids are young so i you know i remember the baby phase pretty well your baby's playing on the floor and they're just like oh those twins and Speaker 2 (13:43) i believe they were just like they were chosen because they were the only ones who didn't cry it's just like that moment led to billions of dollars Speaker 1 (13:53) And then to say there was a spark there, like to assign them this sort of otherworldly star quality at that age, I think is crazy. And I think ultimately has to have affected them in ways that we probably can't really imagine or understand. I Speaker 2 (14:12) think a little bit of hindsight there of producers trying to claim that they saw something and taking a bit of credit for the success. Yeah, that could be Speaker 1 (14:20) good. Yeah. Producers are like that. Hollywood is like that. And this was 1990. So the show was already a really big hit. OK, so on on the topic of the parents, the article goes on to say, I didn't even want to be bothered with it, said Dave Olson, whose wife had sent the girl's photo to a