Insiders Leak Ashley Olsen's Intense Involvement In Mary-Kate’s Bitter Divorce

Mary-Kate has always kept her personal life quite private, but insider sources have since talked about how she and Sarkozy met in the first place. In 2020 one of these told Entertainment Tonight that Mary-Kate was attracted to the wealthy older man because he "was more outgoing than she was."

Apparently, the pair met at a party, and things went from there. According to Entertainment Tonight’s source, “When they did go out, she preferred to go out late at night. For example, they would have midnight dinners at Nobu. She also really liked being in the Hamptons [where Sarkozy lived] because there was more privacy for her there and she [could] ride her horses.”

The ET source continued, “They’re both very driven, intelligent and hard working, so there was definitely mutual respect there.” But there was also the matter of Sarkozy being seventeen years older than Mary-Kate. The insider said, “They both have friends that span a wide range of ages and it didn’t seem to be a big deal to them.”

However, the age difference did apparently matter to one person – Sarkozy’s ex-wife. According to the National Enquirer, Charlotte Sarkozy said that the relationship was “not right” and “grotesque” when the pair was seen together in 2012. Yet the romance between the banker and the now-fashion designer continued on nonetheless.

In fact, Sarkozy had only just divorced Charlotte when he met Mary-Kate. Yes, after having two children together, the pair split in 2011. And he’d also dated the actress Stella Schnabel after his divorce. Oh, and there was another very notable thing about him – he was the half-brother of Nicolas Sarkozy, one-time President of France.

As you might expect, the tabloids were fascinated by the romance. After all, a former child star dating the much older and incredibly wealthy half-brother of a world leader was a combination that didn’t come along every day. And the French media delved into the story, sometimes with a mocking tone. Sarkozy was nicknamed “the little French lover.”

Others seemed to think differently about the headline-grabbing romance though. Michael Pagnotta, the former publicist for the Olsen twins, told The Post in 2020, “I never found their relationship strange. The girls grew up around older, successful men from a very early age because they were so young when they started in [show] business.”

Pagnotta went on, “Both Ashley and Mary-Kate were used to dealing with older, decisive people who became very influential in their lives and careers and who they saw as peers. I can understand why Mary-Kate would be with a guy like him.” Yet Mary-Kate herself never spoke about what she saw in Sarkozy.

One reason for all the media coverage was that Mary-Kate had been a very famous child star. When she and her twin were still just babies, they shared the part of Michelle Tanner on the popular sitcom Full House. And they stayed with the show right up until it ended in 1995. This had to have greatly affected their upbringing.

Mary-Kate and Ashley were raking in piles of cash before they even turned 10. And they grew a massive pre-teen fanbase thanks to their various direct-to-VHS movies. What’s more, the twins had their own merchandise, magazine, and official fan club, all of which were wildly popular in the '90s.

Now, you might think it was a strange way to grow up. And in 2010 Mary-Kate spoke to Marie Clare magazine about what her childhood had been like. She said that she and her twin had been like “little monkey performers” and she “wouldn’t wish [her] upbringing on anybody.” However, she added, “But I wouldn’t take it back for the world.”

Their younger sister Elizabeth, who herself went on to big things, also had mixed feelings about the way the twins grew up. In 2011 she told Nylon magazine, “They turned 18 and what was going on in her life – I’m talking about Mary-Kate – was all over the news. They would follow us shopping and [Mary-Kate and Ashley] would almost get into car accidents because of the paparazzi, and I didn’t want to be a part of it.”

However, Mary-Kate and Ashley moved away from the acting world and into the fashion one. Yes, in 2006 they started their own clothing company called The Row. The next year they opened Elizabeth and James, another fashion line. (The name came from the first names of their siblings.) So the two were already rich, but this made them even richer.

And thus Mary-Kate and Sarkozy were a couple who commanded a vast amount of wealth. You see, Sarkozy had excelled in investment banking. Starting from 2008 he worked as the managing director of Global Financial Services for billion-dollar company The Carlyle Group. And even his divorce from Charlotte didn’t seem to dent his finances too much.

Anyway, in March 2013 rumors began spreading that a Mary-Kate marriage proposal was on the horizon. Yes, and an insider told Us Weekly magazine that Sarkozy wanted to “lock [Mary-Kate] down for life” and considered her not only “smart as a whip” but “mature for her age.” But, the source said, Mary-Kate wanted to “give it more time.”

But by late February 2014 an engagement had indeed taken place. Sarkozy had proposed, and the wedding plans were in motion. And Mary-Kate’s equally famous family, which included both Ashley and Elizabeth of course, were reportedly thrilled. An insider told Us Weekly, “Mary-Kate’s family thinks Olivier is the best thing to happen to her.”

So the wedding between Mary-Kate and her older beau took place in November 2015. And reportedly the one thing that the celebrations weren’t lacking was the provision of cigarettes. According to an insider who spoke to Page Six magazine, the reception room was packed full of “bowls and bowls filled with cigarettes, and everyone smoked the whole night.”

The ceremony was very private, but Page Six magazine did gather up a few more details. It revealed, “The reception was held at a private residence on 49th Street, between Second and Third avenues; cocktails were served in a rear garden before the 50 guests dined indoors. Attendees were required to turn in their cellphones beforehand.”

After that, the former child star continued to keep the details of her marriage out of the press. Only in March 2017 did her fans get an inside look into how the relationship was going. During an interview with Net-a-Porter magazine, both Mary-Kate and Ashley discussed how they kept a healthy work-life balance.

Mary-Kate said in the interview, “I think we’re lucky [working hard] comes quite naturally for us. We don’t need so much time to sit and think and ponder. But then I have a husband, two step-kids and a life; I have to go home and cook dinner. I ride horses on the weekends. You find the thing that helps you relax and if you don’t have it, look for it. Or you get burned out and then you’re not productive.”

All in all, with the little information available at the time, the two appeared to have a good relationship. And prior to the wedding itself, the loved-up couple had been fans of public displays of affection. To add to that, there had even been rumours of them having children in future. So what, if anything, could actually go wrong?

Well suddenly, seemingly without warning, Sarkozy and Mary-Kate were divorcing. And worse, it was by all accounts a messy and painful split. There was a prenuptial agreement in place, and that was probably a good thing under the circumstances, as there were huge amounts of money in play.

Before their wedding in April 2014, Sarkozy and Mary-Kate had bought a beautiful townhouse in New York’s Turtle Bay Gardens. And it featured, among other things, an elevator, a library, a foundation, and the slightly odd luxury of an in-house hall of mirrors. Apparently the couple purchased it for $13.5 million.

And that wasn’t the only piece of property Mary-Kate and Sarkozy jointly owned. You see, they also had their home in the Hamptons, a massive five-bedroom mansion worth at least $5 million. Apparently, after filing for divorce Mary-Kate had left that home and headed off to another Hamptons estate, this one a rental.

Not only that, but Mary-Kate had allegedly been ordered out of her and Sarkozy’s New York place, being told via email that she had to be gone by May 18. Mary-Kate herself, unsurprisingly considering her past attitude towards privacy, made no comment to the media about what was happening. But touchingly, it soon emerged that her twin sister had been there for her.

Yes, according to an anonymous source who spoke to E! News, Mary-Kate had fled to be with her beloved twin Ashley, during what had fast become “heated” divorce proceedings. So she’d had a shoulder to cry on, at least. Furthermore, the source claimed it had “gotten very ugly between [Mary-Kate and Olivier]” and the former child star was simply “done with constant drama.”

Other so called insiders spoke to the media too. One alleged to Page Six, “[Olivier] seems like a fun guy when you meet him but he is a shark. Very tough. He’s not somebody you want to go up against. His divorce from [his first wife] got very messy for a while and they really went after each other. Don’t underestimate him if it gets messy with Mary-Kate.”

The media also reported on some of the lesser-known details of Sarkozy’s first divorce. After his split from Charlotte she had written a book called “Men Are Like Melons: A French Woman’s Guide to Surviving Divorce and Finding Love in the Era of the App.” In the book’s advertising campaign there had been the line: “Men are like melons. Out of ten, you’ll find one that’s good.”

Then on May 20 an insider told People magazine that children might have been one cause of the split. They said, “A few years ago, having a baby was not a priority for [Mary-Kate]. This has changed.” But Sarkozy apparently didn’t want any more children, having had two already.

A “fashion source” told People, “Olivier has two grown kids and doesn’t want more. Mary-Kate thought he would budge on that and he hasn’t.” They also said, “Mary-Kate prefers to be quiet and alone and doing the things she likes. She’s not that interested in socializing—she likes small gatherings with select people. They ended up being apart quite a bit.”

Also, rumor had it that Sarkozy had wanted Mary-Kate to be more of a stay-at-home wife, something she was unwilling to do. A source told People, “She’s super career focused and he’s very French and wanted her to be more available. You can’t control a girl who has been on the billionaire track since her 20s.”

And the magazine’s source threw out some other interesting tidbits, including, “[Mary-Kate] is the type of person who would never complain about a 12 hour work day. Olivier never understood her drive and passion.” They added, “Olivier loves traveling to tropical places with his French friends. He traveled without her several times.”

What’s more, People magazine got hold of a copy of the application Mary-Kate had filed. It read in part, “I am petrified that my husband is trying to deprive me of the home that we have lived in and if he is successful, I will not only lose my home but I risk losing my personal property as well.” Things sounded bad.

Possibly complicating matters further was that Sarkozy had apparently been friendlier with his ex-wife Charlotte than had previously been suggested. According to a source who spoke to Page Six, the divorce between the two had actually turned out okay in the end and they were on “good, very friendly terms.”

The source also said, “It was not uncommon for Charlotte to be around and stay in a separate bedroom in the Hamptons on holidays or birthdays. They have two kids and have always put them first. In their French way, family comes first, even with a divorce. Charlotte was even at Olivier’s wedding to Mary-Kate.”

Apparently, according to the Page Six source, things had intensified during the 2020 lockdown. You see, Sarkozy had “insisted to Mary-Kate” that his whole family be allowed to live in the couple’s mansion temporarily, and this naturally included Charlotte. So had this been the catalyst for the split?

The insider told the magazine, “Maybe French people culturally have a different view of marriage, and while Mary-Kate loves his children, it was too much to have his ex-wife living with them... Would you want the ex-wife living with you for an unforeseeable amount of time in the middle of a crisis?”

However, the source also insisted that there had been absolutely no infidelity in the marriage. They told Page Six, “It was simply erosion … growing apart. No cheating or betrayals … sometimes couples just run their course. The plan to move in his family was his way of moving on, and the final straw for Mary-Kate.”

But despite everything, insiders seemed optimistic. One told Page Six, “The Olsens have as much money as Sarkozy does, maybe more. Both of the girls have a lot of confidence in themselves and in business. Mary-Kate is very strong, both she and Ashley are. These girls are nothing like you expect them to be. Mary-Kate will survive.”

Of course, Mary-Kate and Ashley aren't the only women taking over the fashion industry. Joining the World’s Billionaires list at 41 makes Spanx founder Sara Blakely the youngest woman to be a part of the list without an inheritance or wealthy partner — and she owns 100% of her business, without any debt or investments from outsiders! She also refuses to advertise her shapewear. So how did she even get people interested?

Creating a company from scratch required Sara to put in work. She sold Spanx in the Neiman Marcus lobby alongside a before-and-after image of herself wearing the product. This tactic worked. Spanx’s growth was driven by Sara’s drive and innovation.

Now the company is managed by hundreds of people, a majority of them being women. They offer more than 200 different styles of shapewear, bras, underwear, leggings, and even menswear that are sold at thousands of stores globally.

Sara's ability to completely throw herself into her business helps Spanx continue to thrive. “I’m game for anything,” Sara said. “The company has to pull me back.” Before developing her clothing line, Sara never thought of herself as an inventor.

Sara grew up in Clearwater, Florida, and had a knack for starting businesses — every year she ran a haunted house for Halloween. Outside of her work forays, Sara was a cheerleader and debate champion. However, her young life was marred by an accident.

When Sara was riding her bike, a car ran over her best friend in front of her. The teen was killed instantly. “I think that when you witness death at age 16, there’s a sense of urgency about life,” Sara said. Tragedies kept mounting.

Soon after her best friend’s death, both of Sara’s prom dates also died, along with a few other of her high school friends in a series of accidents, “one in a boating accident; … another after falling down a flight of stairs; another while horseback riding,” the New Yorker wrote.

The sheer amount of death that Sara experienced by the time she was 30 impacted her life path. “The thought of my mortality — I think about it a lot,” Sara said. “I find it motivating. It can be any time that your number’s up.”

This led Sara to get a legal communications degree from Florida State. Unfortunately, Sara failed her LSAT twice. Frustrated by her test scores, she got a job at Disney World instead and moved to Orlando. She told herself it was for a good reason.

“I think I wanted to postpone reality, having spent my whole life thinking I’d be a lawyer,” Sara said. “It didn’t work. My first day at Disney I went on break and saw Snow White dragging on a cigarette.” She needed to do something else.

After her stint at Disney, Sara moved on to the office supply company, Danka, which was eventually purchased by Ricoh. When Sara worked at Danka, she spent her time cold calling, which was integral to spreading Spanx to a broader audience.

Sara got the idea for Spanx when she wore pantyhose for work. In the oppressive Florida heat, the pantyhose only created more difficulties for Sara. “It’s Florida, it’s hot, I was carrying fax machines,” she said. 

Moving to Atlanta, Sara invested $5,000, her entire savings, to develop a different kind of shaping product that would be better for long wear. Every night, she went to the Georgia Tech library to research hosiery patents. She drove to different craft stores looking for the best fabric.

Once she had a prototype, she cold-called hosier factories to see if anyone would commit to making her product. Sara was continually rejected, but that didn’t faze her. Eventually, Sara would show up in person to the factories.

When she tried this at the Highland Mills hosiery factory in Charlotte, North Carolina, she was initially given a no, but the manager surprised her with a call a few weeks later. The manager had been influenced by his daughters, who loved the sample.

Sara was doing all of this while maintaining her full-time Danka job. She is a tornado of work ethic and self-determination and even saved $3,000 in legal fees by writing her own patent for Spanx. Of course, coming up with the name flexed her creativity muscles.

The name came from a brainstorming session when Sara threw out the name Spanks, which she decided to personalize with an “x.” “The word ‘Spanx’ was funny,” Sara said. “It made people laugh. No one ever forgot it.” Eventually, though, she knew her business had to evolve.

Sara and her business partner Laurie Ann Goldman are now considering switching up a long-running Spanx tradition. They’re considering a public offering or some other form of outside capital investment to increase their growth at a faster rate.

“We’ve been approached consistently from day one, and it was never something I entertained,” Sara said. “Now, for the first time, I may entertain it.” Before this, the company thrived through self-funding and word-of-mouth ads.

Getting celebrities involved was also a huge help. "We've sent Spanx to everybody on the planet," said Goldman. "We always had PR and grassroots marketing at the forefront of what we did… We knew if we could get women to put it on they become true believers." Sara also attributes a few morning habits to her success.

I’ve identified where my best thinking happens, and it’s in the car,” Sara said. “I live really close to Spanx, so I’ve created what my friends call my ‘fake commute,’ and I get up an hour early before I’m supposed to go to Spanx and I drive around aimlessly in Atlanta with my commute so that I can have my thoughts come to me.”

Because this works so well for her, Sara suggests everyone find a place that allows them to get quality thinking done. Productive thinking is the key to success, of course, Sara Blakely is just one of many uber-successful businesswomen and CEOs who have inspired other women to pursue their dreams, but her advice sounds pretty good to us.