Elizabeth Olsen Says Sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley Were ‘Forced’ to Support Her Career

Elizabeth Olsen is opening up about what it was like to pursue her own acting career amid the immense fame of her older sisters Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen.

The twin siblings, now 39, became household names and global stars playing Michelle Tanner in the family sitcom whole houseWhich aired from 1987 to 1995. During their teenage years, they starred together in the series so little timeas well as in many films conquer london And when in Rome,

Elizabeth, 36, recalls that time in a new interview many timesDescribing his childhood as “pretty chaotic”.

“I was the youngest of four children, and we were all born within five years of each other,” she said, recalling hanging out as a child on the set while Mary-Kate and Ashley were working.

“So now I think the idea of ​​a quiet bath and bedtime story routine is very gentle and sweet because we didn’t have anything like that,” she said.

She shared how Ashley and Mary-Kate were “forced” to support their younger sister as she pursued her acting career.

“(She) was forced to watch all my plays and go to my dance performances her entire life,” he said.

Elizabeth said that Ashley and Mary-Kate – who now work in fashion, running her own label The Row, which was founded in 2005 – did not give her acting advice, but were “supportive” of her endeavours.

“We’re just a supportive family,” he said. many timesHe further said, “It seems irrelevant to talk about this after working for 15 years.”

wandavision The star also shared that she almost gave up acting because of the intense scrutiny when her twin sisters were in the limelight.

Reflecting on her choice to pursue a career in showbiz, Elizabeth told the outlet, “When you grow up in L.A., you think about wanting to be an actor. It sounds silly — this is a town where people come to act, and you should know better. I was a good student and knew there were other opportunities I could pursue, but I couldn’t think of what they were.”

He said that when he decided to get into acting, he studied the art “to make it legitimate for me”. He spent a term at the Moscow Art Theater School in 2009, and described the experience of living in the Russian city as “profound”.

“Moscow and St. Petersburg are cities that revolve entirely around art – you rarely see political statues because they keep erasing them, so instead there are a lot of poets and writers who have been alive for hundreds of years and are the voice of the people,” Elizabeth points out. many times“And saw the best theater I’ve seen in any city in my life,”

Elizabeth has previously spoken openly about her efforts to avoid any “nepotism” that could come with being Mary-Kate and Ashley’s younger sister, as well as starting her career – including considering using her middle name, Chase, as an actress.

“I was 10 years old and I was anxious about auditioning… and I quickly realized it wasn’t for me because I was missing my sports teams, my dance class, and all the extracurricular activities at school,” she said. glamor uk His initial interest in the industry in 2021.

“But during that time, I thought, ‘For some reason, I don’t want to be associated with (Mary-Kate and Ashley),'” she continued. “I think I understood at the age of 10 what nepotism was like naturally. I don’t know if I knew the word or not, but there’s a kind of connection of not earning something that I think bothered me at a very young age.”

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While Elizabeth said that this realization ultimately “had to do with her own insecurities,” she remembered thinking as a child, “When I become an actress I’ll be Elizabeth Chase.”