Austin Nichols admits he was ‘too old’ to kiss Mary-Kate Olsen when she was underage as he recalls ‘weird’ experience
Austin Nichols has said he was 'too old' to kiss Mary-Kate Olsen during their movie Holiday in the Sun as he reflected on the 2001 film.
Nichols, who has gone on to star in One Tree Hill and The Day After Tomorrow, spoke about his role in a recent interview and said it 'felt wrong' to kiss 15-year-old Olsen when he was aged 20 at the time.
Nichols, now 44, starred in the movie alongside Olsen and her twin, Ashley.
The film was set in the Bahamas and followed the twins as they were taken on holiday by their parents.
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In the movie, the sisters - Madison and Alex - ended up having a holiday romance with Nichols' character, Griffin, and Ben Easter's character, Jordan.
But there was an age gap between Nichols and Olsen which left the actor feeling uncomfortable.
"I was definitely nervous because Mary-Kate was 15, and I was, I think, 18 or 19 or maybe even 20," he told the Drama Queens podcast.
"I don't remember. It felt weird, and it felt wrong."
Nichols explained that although you can't really tell that there's a big age gap in the movie, it still felt strange.
And co-star Ben felt the same about his own age gap with Ashley, who was also 15, while he was about to turn 22.
"I don't think you can tell there's a big age difference," said Nichols.
"But from my brain, I was like, 'She's 15. This is weird'."
Meanwhile, Ben told E! in 2021: "My manager was like, 'I think they told the girls you were 16.' I was like, 'I don't want to lie'.
"I'm not a lying kind of guy. This isn't what we do, I'm from Iowa. This is not how we roll. I am the worst liar. I was like, 'Please don't bring this up, please don't bring it up'."
Ben explained that Ashley was okay with his age, adding: "We hit it off right off the bat.
"They could see I was professional and I wasn't some creep."
Mary-Kate and Ashley took a step back from acting and the spotlight in general around 20 years ago.
Their last TV appearance was during an episode of Saturday Night Live in 2004.
Instead, the twins turned to fashion and started their luxury fashion brand, The Row, in 2006.
The label has won numerous awards, most recently Accessories Designer of the Year at 2021's CFDA Fashion Awards.
And they're even set to open a new The Row store in Paris.
In an interview with Vogue, Ashley said: "We've been looking for years. We wanted to be in Paris before we opened in London, but we didn't find anything here first. Then, 18 months ago, a friend told us about this place.
"It has to be a nice experience for the community—a sense of the store being local. We want the experience to be unique and special. Their experience is as important to us as anything else we do."
Topics: TV And Film, Celebrity
Lucy Devine