Time is a weird thing when it comes to child stars. We tend to freeze people in our heads, usually at the exact moment they were most famous. For most people, that means picturing two gap-toothed toddlers shouting "You got it, dude!" or maybe the slightly awkward, boho-chic NYU students from the mid-2000s.
But the reality is much more interesting.
Honestly, the age of mary kate and ashley is the kind of thing that makes a whole generation of Millennials feel like they need to go lie down in a dark room. As of early 2026, the twins are 39 years old. They’ll be hitting the big 4-0 on June 13th of this year. It feels like just yesterday the media was doing that creepy "countdown to 18" thing, and now they’re literal veterans of a multi-billion dollar fashion empire.
The Numbers Game: How Old Are the Twins Right Now?
Let's look at the hard facts before we get into why they’ve basically become the ghosts of New York City. Mary-Kate and Ashley Fuller Olsen were born on June 13, 1986. Ashley is the "older" one by about two minutes. They aren't even identical—they’re fraternal—which is a detail most people forget because they looked like carbon copies for the first twenty years of their lives.
When you think about the age of mary kate and ashley, you have to think about the sheer volume of work they crammed into those years.
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- 9 months old: Started filming Full House.
- 6 years old: Became the youngest producers in Hollywood history.
- 18 years old: Took over as co-presidents of Dualstar.
- 20 years old: Founded The Row.
They’ve lived more "life" by 40 than most people do in eighty years. It’s no wonder they look a little tired in paparazzi shots, or why they’ve essentially retired from the public eye.
Why the World Won’t Let Them Age in Peace
The obsession with the age of mary kate and ashley isn't just about celebrity gossip. It’s a yardstick for their fans. If the Olsen twins are turning 40, it means the people who grew up watching Passport to Paris on a VHS tape are also hitting their late 30s. It's a collective existential crisis.
There’s also this weird "disappearance" factor. Usually, when child stars age, they either stay in the spotlight (like their sister Elizabeth Olsen, who is 36 and thriving in the MCU) or they have a public meltdown. The twins did neither. They just... transitioned. They traded the acting world for the high-stakes world of "quiet luxury."
Life at 39: The Row and Beyond
In 2026, the twins aren't hanging out at Hollywood parties. If you want to see them, you have to look for them in the wild—usually in the West Village, wearing about six layers of oversized cashmere and clutching a Venti Starbucks cup like it’s a religious relic.
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Their brand, The Row, is actually celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Think about that. Most celebrity "fashion lines" last about three seasons before ending up in the clearance bin at Kohl’s. These women have spent two decades building a brand that defines the "Old Money" aesthetic before that was even a TikTok trend.
At 39, they’ve also dealt with some heavy adult stuff. Mary-Kate went through a very public, very messy divorce from Olivier Sarkozy back in 2020. Ashley, on the other hand, secretly welcomed a son named Otto with her husband Louis Eisner in 2023. They are living very real, very private lives that have nothing to do with Michelle Tanner.
The "Quiet" in Quiet Luxury
The most fascinating thing about the age of mary kate and ashley is how they’ve managed to stay relevant without actually doing anything for the public. They don’t have Instagram. They don't do talk shows. At their recent Paris Fashion Week shows, they’ve been known to ban phones entirely.
They’ve realized that in your late 30s, the greatest luxury isn't fame—it’s anonymity.
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They’ve successfully pivoted from being products to being creators. It’s a rare move. Most child stars are stuck forever trying to recapture the magic of their youth. The Olsens seem almost repulsed by their past. Mary-Kate once famously said they felt like "little monkey performers" during their acting days.
What You Should Take Away From the Olsen Evolution
The age of mary kate and ashley serves as a pretty solid blueprint for how to handle a career pivot. You don't have to be who you were at 10, 20, or even 30.
If you’re tracking their journey, here are the real-world takeaways:
- Privacy is a Power Move: You don't owe the world an update on your life.
- Quality Over Hype: Building something like The Row took 20 years of consistency.
- Evolution is Mandatory: It's okay to leave the "thing" you're famous for to do the thing you actually love.
As they approach their 40th birthday this June, the twins aren't just "former child stars." They are business moguls who figured out how to win the fame game by refusing to play it anymore.
If you want to keep up with their aesthetic, look into the 2026 collections of The Row, which have recently shifted from "Quiet Luxury" into more experimental, maximalist textures like feathers and sequins. It seems even at 40, they aren't done surprising the industry.