PETA has a new target. Well, two targets: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. In a new ad campaign to be unveiled today at the Olsens' Walk of Fame star on Hollywood Boulevard, PETA blasts the 21-year-old star sibs — whom they dub the "Trollsen Twins — for wearing fur and including it in their collections Elizabeth and James and The Row. "Thin-twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are about to get some publicity that will have them running away faster than if they'd spotted a calorie," the group said in a snarky statement today. The new ad features the twins under the headline "Fur Is Worn by Beautiful Animals and Ugly People." To coincide with the ad, PETA has also launched a new web site devoted to "Hairy-Kate" and "Trashley." It features, among other things, a mash-up video called "Full House of Horrors," in which footage from the twins' former hit TV show is interspersed with – you guessed it – scenes of animals being killed for fur. "No one would argue that Mary-Kate and Ashley could use some meat on their bones, but the last thing they need is hair on their backs," PETA's Assistant Director of Youth Campaigns Dan Shannon said in a statement.
Nearly three years after their 12-room Greenwich Village condo in New York first hit the market - without ever having lived in it - Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have relisted it for sale. Only this time, the price tag of the nearly 6,000 square feet of luxurious living and Hudson River views has jumped some $4.7 million, to just under $12 million, after the sisters paid $7.3 million in December 2004. Not that the Olsens have been losing money all these years. "The apartment has been rented, and has been continually rented since" the Olsens first took possession, a property management associate told the New York Observer. Monthly rent has been $35,000. Included is a 53-foot-long entertainment space interrupted only by a glass-enclosed fireplace. "It's very dramatic, very dramatic," said the agent. "You walk in and it's right there, bang." River views are available from the living/dining room, the master bedroom, the master dressing room - which the realtor calls "as large as a large maid's room, basically - and the other two bedrooms.
Mary-Kate Olsen has been hospitalized with a kidney infection. The actress entered the emergency room of a New York hospital on Monday. "Mary-Kate got a kidney infection," her rep said. "She's resting comfortably and will be released in the next day or so."
Lance Armstong is denying that he and Ashley Olsen are an item. "Ashley Olsen and I are strictly friends," he said in Friday's New York Post. "We have hung out amongst other friends, and she strikes me as a nice, smart lady." (Their actions paint a different picture, however: the pair both booked rooms at the luxe NYC SoHo House and dined together at the Waverly Inn after taking in the Broadway play Young Frankenstein on October 29.)
New couple alert? Ashley Olsen has a new, older man. The 21-year-old showed up to the Rose Bar at the Gramercy Park Hotel Monday night with Lance Armstrong, 36. A bar spy said, "They came together with a group of friends. Ashley drank red wine, sat on his lap and they were making out all night. They left together around 2 a.m." Another insider said, "Ashley and Lance settled in and within minutes, he was whispering in her ear and she was giggling like a schoolgirl. They totally looked like they were on a date."
Mary-Kate Olsen explained the logic behind her oft-hidden face in paparazzi pics. "I don't want my picture taken," the 21-year-old told Entertainment Weekly mag. "The only time I think it's okay is at a red-carpet event or a photo shoot. So every time I see a paparazzi, I cover my face so they don't get a picture, and I'm just 'the mean person who doesn't smile.' I would love to be able to swim in the ocean in Malibu," she says. "But that is asking for a bikini shot. That's inviting something that I don't want to happen. I don't need to be on a 'Who's Skinny, Who's Fat, Who's Looking Healthy, Who's Not Eating?' list." Olsen's 10-episode arc on Showtime's Weeds begins September 17.
With Mary-Kate Olsen about to strut her stuff alone in Weeds, twin Ashley Olsen is about to make a naughty solo turn on the big screen. In addition to Olsen, the new Superman, Brandon Routh, is joining Billy Bob Thornton and Kim Basinger in the Bret Easton Ellis adaptation of The Informers. Thornton will play a movie exec with Basinger as his wife, Rough will play a vampire and Olsen will play a sexually promiscuous girl. The story follows seven intersecting storylines taking place over one week in LA circa 1983.
In an interview with New York Magazine, Mary-Kate Olsen reveals that she ditched her courseload at NYU because she was spooked by classmates who were spying on her. Fellow students were selling stories to tabloids and working at glossies that were happy to receive dispatches from the classroom. "They'd have internships at the weeklies," Olsen says. "Learning is not fun if you're not safe." The diminutive twin didn't actually drop out - she's still enrolled and has only a year and a half to go until she earns a degree. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are in the midst of launching their fashion line, The Row.
Mary-Kate Olsen filmed a hot make-out scene in New York recently - with 63-year-old Ben Kingsley! The film, called The Wackness, chronicles the story of a drug dealer who trades marijuana for therapy sessions with his psychiatrist, played by Kingsley. His scene with Olsen, shot at a Greenpoint bar, was described as a "full on make-out session."
Ashley Olsen told Marie Claire in the September issue that she and her twin sister Mary-Kate "both carry the weight of each other... Our bond is really beyond words. I know when she's hurting, I know when she's going through something. I know when she's happy - whether I'm with her or not, I know."
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Need a new job? Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have posted a job listing on Craig's List looking for an intern for their new clothing line, The Row:
"The Row is all about a classic, chic sensibility for women and men, incorporating tailor made techniques to all of our garments. We sell to the best botiques (sic) worldwide New York (Barneys), Los Angeles (Maxfield), Paris (Marie Louisa), Tokyo (Isetan, Adelaide, etc.) and others. This position is part-time (3-4 days a week). The internship requires a 2-3 month commitment. Responsibilities will include doing flat sketches, organizing inventory for development and market samples, corresponding with local factories, sourcing fabric, finding inspiration material, working on excel spreadsheets, running errands, putting together tech packs, sourcing different garment industry vendors. This job has a lot of responsibilities and requires someone who is thorough and self-motivated."
Oh, and it's unpaid.
Random gossip:
In addition to their high-end (and uber expensive) fashion line The Row, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have something else up their fashionable sleeves. The tiny twins announced today that they are working on a more affordable contemporary sportswear line called Elizabeth and James, named for the other Olsen siblings. "We wanted it to be based on a relationship between a young girl and a boy and tell the story through the clothing," Mary-Kate Olsen told Women's Wear Daily. Influenced by her own vintage collection, the line was designed in collaboration with the designers of Seven For All Mankind and LaRok, and reportedly includes shiny slip dresses, hot pants, and a super skinny pinstriped menswear vest.
Mary-Kate Olsen is making a television comeback with a role on the Showtime hit Weeds. The Full House alum will play appear in ten episodes next season as Tara, a devoted Christian girl who becomes a love interest for Mary-Louise Parker character Nancy Botwin's son on the show. "I'm thrilled to be a part of the show," Olsen says. "It's really an honor to be a part of such a talented group of actors and writers." Matthew Modine is also set to join the show next year. "Weeds isn't your 8 o'clock family fare," says the series creator. "It's an adult show with adult subject matter, and we're confident Mary-Kate is right for the role. She came in and read with Hunter and was absolutely charming and real and seemed like a great fit. Audiences have seen only one side of Mary-Kate, but here we'll see her in a whole new light."
Seen on the scene:
The first pictures of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's new clothing line, The Row, have been released. The collection carries hefty price tags, with a $3,220 Tuscan lamb-fur coats, $1,700 cashmere tuxedo jackets, $875 strapless dresses and $360 legging-style pants. The mini-moguls have been keeping details about the line secret, not even allowing journalists to attend the collection preview in Paris earlier this year. For more, check out fashionologie.com.
Seen on the scene:
No surprises here - Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have been named the richest Hollywood stars under 21 by Forbes mag. Dualstar, the twins's company, pulled in close to $40 million in 2006. Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe landed in second place on the list, earning an estimated $13 million last year, and rounding out third was tabloid fav Lindsay Lohan. Also in the top ten were Dakota Fanning, Amanda Bynes, Hayden Panetierre, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Abigail Breslin, Tyler James Williams and JoJo Levesque.
Mary-Kate Olsen wrote a "stellar" piece for the New York Times about this red bag belonging to sister Ashley:
"Timeless
Brand Loyalty
by Mary-Kate Olsen
I have a large, red quilted Chanel bag that I borrowed from my sister, Ashley. I wore it to an event and never gave it back. Luckily, she's moved on to another bag, so I'm safe for now. I'm not quite sure how many bags I have, but let's just say I have a few. When I find a bag I like, I tend to wear it to death until I become obsessed with another one. This probably happens three to five times a year. But I always come back to the Chanel. The size isn't overwhelming, and it has enough subtle detail to keep it interesting. I also have the smaller version in blue and in white, but the red is definitely my favorite. I don't have a stylist - I'd rather just do my own thing and put together my own outfits. The chain-handle bag is the perfect accent to almost any combination I come up with. I look at everything with a designer's eye, but I wouldn't change a thing about this bag. I think that's why it's a true classic."
Wow. Groundbreaking journalism. What was the point?
