Tragic Details About Elizabeth Olsen

Since her breakout role in 2011's "Martha Marcy May Marlene," Elizabeth Olsen has had an incredible transformation. Her reputation has skyrocketed from her early years as the lesser known sister of the Olsen twins to playing a major role in the MCU. The fact that Olsen grew up in the spotlight, only to surpass her sisters in fame and fortune, might make her seem less sympathetic and relatable, but she's also dealt with more than her fair share of setbacks.

From her early years, and even as she got older and fell into the industry she'd been familiar with for years, the trials and tribulations of Olsen's life continued. Fortunately, her saving grace turned out to be her work as an actor, as she told The Hollywood Reporter in September 2024, "I'm the baby in my family, so it made me independent and autonomous, and that's why I love the escape. I totally use this job to escape all responsibilities in my life, and I never want to stop."

Today, given that Olsen is an internationally recognized powerhouse, it's hard to imagine the difficulties she's faced to get to where she is. From her childhood, which was marked by her sisters' incredible popularity, to the recurring nightmares she suffers from today, here are the tragic details about Elizabeth Olsen.

After watching the way her sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley were treated by the press, it's no wonder why Elizabeth Olsen wasn't so sure about being an actor. The fraternal twins got their start as infants on "Full House," and their stardom soared from there, leading to frequent bombardments from the media and provocative headlines. "It's weird growing up with that. But it's also the only thing you know," Olsen explained of the spotlight that followed her family while on "Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware" (15:10) in January 2021. "The paparazzi part was the strange part because they follow you, and so as a child that's very scary," she added.

The other sad aspect of the twins' fame was the media's sexualization of them, which Olsen acknowledged as being "so weird." While it may not have been an ideal way for the actor to grow up, especially since she wasn't reaping the monetary benefits her sisters were, the "Liberal Arts" star got a taster course on what notoriety was like. During a May 2022 interview with Harper's Bazaar, Olsen credited Mary-Kate and Ashley for helping prepare her for her life in the spotlight. "I felt very clear about how I was going to navigate lots of things because of watching them. I also felt very protected," she shared.

Growing up in the '90s and '00s meant the Olsen twins were everywhere, and many were envious of their stunning looks. From their big green eyes to their always-perfect blonde hair, they were beauty icons from a young age, and Elizabeth Olsen inherited some of these stunning genes as well. While on "The Late Late Show with James Corden" in May 2018, Olsen explained that the internet used to be convinced she'd had work done.

"If you were to Google my name, the first search to come up was 'nose job.'" she explained. Sadly, it was this facial feature that the actor used to be picked on for, too. "I've had the same nose my whole life and I used to be made fun of for having a Michael Jackson nose. But he had a lot of surgeries to get there," Olsen quipped.

According to the "Red Lights" star, her dainty nose was at the center of a rumor that began to spread on the internet at one point. "There is a rumor that said that my sisters stuffed me with so much cocaine before I was a teenager that I had to get a nose job," Olsen told Andy Cohen in May 2021 on an episode of "Watch What Happens Live."

From Miley and Noah Cyrus to Dakota and Elle Fanning, celebrities with successful siblings undoubtedly compare each other's experiences, especially when one found the limelight before the other. Given her love of performing and her sisters' fame, it seemed like a natural move for Elizabeth Olsen to become an actor herself. However, there was a turning point in 2004 where she questioned whether she wanted to continue pursuing her passion.

During an interview with Nylon in October 2011 (via E! News), Olsen cited the media's dealings with rumors of Mary-Kate's eating disorder as a reason to quit acting. "That was when the media was what I found to be abusive to my sisters, and I thought I really didn't want to be in the industry," she explained. The attention of the public heightened around the famous twins as Mary-Kate's physique became headline news. "[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. I just thought, This is such bulls***," Olsen remarked.

Fortunately, she stuck with it. Olsen made a name for herself in a number of theater productions before appearing on the big screen while attending New York University, and while her sisters' horrific experience with the media never left her, she managed to formulate her own relationship with the press.

The Olsen name is well-known, and at first it was all thanks to Mary-Kate and Ashley. Today, Elizabeth Olsen is highly regarded with BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations under her belt for her daring portrayals of complex characters. However, she was always concerned about making a name for herself and wanted to be seen separately from her sisters. Olsen even considered changing her name at one point, going by her middle name Chase instead of her famous last name, to remove the association even further.

During a September 2012 conversation with The Guardian, the "Very Good Girls" star revealed that she was concerned about the "nepotism" label from early on, and it kept her from pursuing a professional acting career until she was older. Instead, Olsen focused on her studies until she was ready to branch out. "I decided that as long as I felt confident and worked hard for it, instead of having it handed to me, no one could take that away from me," Olsen said. The nepo-baby label is less of a concern these days because in the end, she did it all herself. "I never got any job because of my sisters. I could have pulled a few strings through them, but I never needed to," Olsen explained.

Those who suffer from anxiety know how difficult it can be to identify triggers and manage panic attacks. Elizabeth Olsen dealt with anxiety for many years, and the fact that she was raised in a time when mental health wasn't spoken about as openly didn't help, as she told The Guardian in September 2024. "No one talked about panic attacks in the mid-2000s. I thought it meant you just write a list and check things off and get over it. I didn't realize it was something you had no control over," Olsen explained.

When the "Kill Your Darlings" star was in her 20s, her anxiety was so severe that she was having panic attacks several times a day, "almost every hour," she said. Everything from a shift in temperature to wearing high heels or getting hungry would trigger an anxiety attack. Olsen explained, "I thought, 'Oh, is this OK?' And then it would spiral and it just became this habit." Fortunately, she was able to identify coping mechanisms, including meditation, yoga, and breathing exercises, which have helped dramatically.

Olsen ended up marrying someone who could relate to her experiences with anxiety, musician Robbie Arnett, in 2019. The couple was inspired to create a children's book series to help youngsters dealing with anxiety, and in June of 2022, "Hattie Harmony: Worry Detective" was published.

The incredible performance Elizabeth Olsen gave in Sean Durkin's "Martha Marcy May Marlene" put her on the map in 2011, and pretty soon, she was landing role after role. The following couple years saw the actor in a handful of indie films, including "Silent House," "Liberal Arts," and "Very Good Girls," but it was clear from early on that Olsen was slowly being typecast. She often played emotional characters, and while she craved bigger roles, the actor was hesitant to go for them. "That looked scary to me, that kind of pressure," she said during an interview with The New York Times in May 2022.

Eventually, Olsen asked her agent why she wasn't being considered for other types of projects. "People don't think that you want to do them," was the feedback she recalled getting. Fortunately, Olsen overcame her concerns about working on bigger movies and signed onto the MCU as the Scarlet Witch in 2014. She had a long, successful run as an Avenger before she branched off into other genres. As she told the Golden Globe Awards at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2024, "I've reached a point in my career where I'm looking to act in films that make you think."

There's no question that Elizabeth Olsen's career skyrocketed after she signed up to work with Marvel. She appeared in six movies and a television show as Wanda Maxinoff over the course of nearly a decade, and playing such an emotionally complex character established her as an actor with serious range. However, Olsen's commitment to the MCU also meant that she lost out on other roles that could have altered the course of her career, like Yorgos Lanthimos' 2015 film, "The Lobster."

While at the Deauville American Film Festival at the time, she described having to turn down the role due to her schedule with Marvel as a "heartbreak." Despite the fact that Olsen knew her role in the MCU was safe, she began to miss the artistic projects she had initially become known for. During her May 2022 interview with The New York Times, she remarked, "I started to feel frustrated. I had this job security but I was losing these pieces that I felt were more part of my being." The longer Olsen starred in action flicks, she said, the less she became associated with unique and artistic projects.

Now an MCU veteran, Olsen gave her advice to other actors considering signing on to the franchise. "I say, 'Just give them one [project]," she quipped while on the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast in May 2023. That way, Olsen explained, "You now have more creative controls for the next one."

With decades of acting under her belt, Elizabeth Olsen is a total pro and in 2018, she was ready to tackle a project from another angle. "Sorry for Your Loss," a series about a woman coping with the death of her husband, saw the actor both starring in the show as well as executive producing for the first time. As Olsen explained to Variety at the time, "There are so many challenges with the speed of it and the unknown of it, and there are so many times you have to just say, 'This is in my control and this is not in my control.'"

Unfortunately, Olsen found the pressure of acting and producing overwhelming, telling Coveteur in September 2018, "While I was making this show, I was so f***ing erratic. I just felt so wound up." She had to give notes on the project, learn her lines, and act in front of the camera, and once filming had wrapped, there was still more to do in post-production. Olsen added, "There's this horrible spinning that your brain does, and it took me until maybe a week ago to calm down and be slow again."

The actor-turned-producer managed to find peace again through therapy and yoga, but it took her some time for her stress levels to return to normal after the show. Despite the hectic nature of producing a show, Olsen still described it as "the best learning experience."

The death of "Black Panther" actor Chadwick Boseman in August 2020 hit Marvel fans hard, as well as those who had worked closely with the star. Several of his co-stars took to social media to share their tribute , including Chris Hemsworth, Angela Bassett, Robert Downey Jr., and Mark Ruffalo. However, one MCU name that seemed to be missing was Elizabeth Olsen, who didn't share her condolences publicly via Instagram or Twitter. This led Boseman's fans to call her out, resorting to bullying and even threatening the actor.

Not long after she had come under fire, and despite many commenters defending Olsen, she deleted her Instagram profile. Many took this as a sign that the bullies had gotten to the "WandaVision" star, but in speaking with Glamour UK in April 2021, she clarified this wasn't the case. "The whole thing just made me uncomfortable and it's not even like I was really paying attention to comments or anything," Olsen said. While she wouldn't describe the comments she received online as "bullying," she explained, "I just felt weird how it organized my brain."

With that, the Hollywood star swore off social media, and claims to never want to return to it. Later, Marvel released a video tribute to Boseman, which Olsen took part in. In her long-awaited acknowledgement of the "Black Panther" star's death, she said, "It's only fit to be mourning him like a king."

Given her early memories of intense situations with the paparazzi, as well as the media's treatment of Mary-Kate and Ashley, it's understandable why Elizabeth Olsen tries to maintain a relatively private life. In speaking with RSNG in June 2022, the actor remarked, "I would rather live as privately and quietly as possible. ... I like being able to have the kind of career where I'm seen as an actor rather than a celebrity." This was a major catalyst for Olsen to remove herself from social media as well.

Fame seems to be something countless actors have struggled with, especially when they're a part of the biggest movie franchise of all time. Even if she wasn't already well known because of her sisters' fame, the notoriety that came with her involvement with Marvel meant that she could no longer just walk out into public without being recognized. In September 2024, Olsen spoke with Harper's Bazaar about how she handles fame, saying, "I try to avoid it at all costs. I'm hermetic in some ways."

While she fulfills the necessary duties of her job, like promoting projects, she otherwise tries to stay out of sight. "I avoid showing up to places where I might get photographed. When I go to a farmer's market, I try and pick one where there aren't any photographers," Olsen added.

From Elizabeth Olsen's first appearance as the Scarlet Witch in 2014's "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," to "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" in 2022, her character has had quite the arc. While many Marvel fans likely approved of the twists and turns Wanda Maximoff took throughout the franchise, Olsen seemed to be a little more critical.

In speaking with Harper's Bazaar in April 2023, Olsen was asked what her thoughts were on the decision to villainize her character in the most recent Marvel installment at the time. She subtly avoided giving a direct answer, saying, "I'm really proud of the fact that we've done so much already. If the whole thing were to collapse today, I would feel proud of what we've built, and I think we entertained the fans."

Olsen was a little more candid in September 2024 while chatting with FM104, as she pointed out her dissatisfaction with the use of her character. "When I started, I was used well in 'Age of Ultron,' and then I think people didn't know what to do with me for a second there," she quipped. "If there's a good way to use her I'm always happy to come back." While she enjoyed holding the role for over eight years, it's clear that Olsen is ready to walk away from the MCU for now.

Something many Americans can probably relate to is the fear of mass violence, especially given the political climate in recent years. This includes Elizabeth Olsen, who revealed to The Guardian (via AOL) during her September 2024 interview that she has recurring nightmares about being a victim of gun violence. "I've died in a lot of dreams. I've been shot in the head and killed. And it's like, now I have cold blood rushing down my head, and it's darkness," the actor explained.

Olsen lives with her husband in a rural part of northern California, and while it's doubtlessly a stunning location, she can't help but entertain the idea of moving across the pond. She had previously enthused about how much she adores England, from the dry wit of the English people to the hustle and bustle of central London. Olsen explained that arriving in London had given her an overall sense of calm, saying, "I know there's violence everywhere, not everywhere is perfect, and there are certainly things to be angry about and to be scared of, but there's just a calm I feel here."