When Mary-Kate Olsen filed an emergency divorce petition earlier this month, she expected it to remain private, as is tradition.
But legal shutdowns in response to the coronavirus pandemic resulted in her divorce filings becoming public, according to new reporting from Page Six.
Though sensitive legal documents are routinely sealed, the closure of the New York State Supreme Court meant that the 33-year-old fashion designer’s petition went into an e-filing system, where they were accessible to the public.
Unexpected reveal: Mary-Kate Olsen, 33, expected her emergency divorce petition to be sealed, as is usual, but it was made public due to court shutdowns from the coronavirus pandemic, according to Page Six; shown in 2017
The intensely private Olsen has found the divorce from French banker Olivier Sarkozy, 50, to be ‘extremely difficult,’ according to a fashion insider with whom she has previously collaborated.
According to sources familiar with her marriage, Sarkozy ended it unilaterally, leaving her ‘petrified’ of being forced out of their New York City home on short notice.
Sarkozy, the half-brother of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, also reportedly ended the lease on their Gramercy Park apartment, for which they pay $29,000 per month.
‘My husband expects me to move out of our home on [May 18] in the middle of New York City being on pause due to COVID-19,’ she wrote in her court filings, though the judge overseeing the paperwork ruled that it wasn’t enough of an emergency to proceed immediately.
Technical mixup: Her divorce petition from Olivier Sarkozy, 50, went to an automatic e-filing system because the New York State Supreme Court was closed, which made the files accessible; shown in 2015
Unilateral: Sarkozy, the half brother of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, reportedly ended the marriage and the lease on their $29,000/month Gramercy Park apartment; pictured in 2014
Since then, Olsen has moved out to New York state’s tony Hamptons, where she has been staying at a $325,000 rental with her twin sister Ashley Olsen, who alternated performances with her on Full House and was featured in a variety of direct-to-video children’s movies throughout the 1990s.
‘Mary-Kate is okay,’ said one of her fashion connections. ‘But it would not have been her decision to end a marriage and move during a pandemic.’
Others cautioned that Olsen’s divorce could get much messier as courts begin to reopen in New York.
‘[Olivier] seems like a fun guy when you meet him but he is a shark. Very tough,’ revealed a source close to Sarkozy who works in Paris. ‘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.’
Relocated: Olsen subsequently moved out to the Hamptons with her twin sister Ashley Olsen and family, though she fared being pushed out of the apartment during a pandemic; pictured in 2018
People recently reported that Sarkozy wanted his wife to sideline her fashion projects in order to be more of a stay-at-home mother, something she wasn’t interested in doing.
One person who knew the couple through their New York society connections said that Sarkozy had ‘completely changed’ toward his wife.
‘Even his view of the marriage had changed, which surprised people who knew them,’ they said.
A possible factor leading up to the separation was Olsen’s reported desire to have children of her own, though the same fashion source disputed that she ever felt that way.
Unrecognizable: People reported that Sarkozy wanted her to be a stay-at-home mother, and a society connection said he had ‘completely changed’; shown in 2018
Conflict: Olsen reportedly wanted children of her own, though a fashion source disputed that. ‘I’m not so sure about that. All I know is that Mary-Kate loves Olivier’s kids,’ they said; shown in 2017
‘I’m not so sure about that. All I know is that Mary-Kate loves Olivier’s kids,’ they said.
Both parties are independently wealthy, and Olsen’s fortune was described as comparable to Sarkozy’s by one friend of the couple, though they still signed a prenuptial agreement prior to tying the knot.
He did the same with his first wife Charlotte Bernard, whom he married in 1997, though the two reportedly feuded over the prenup during their divorce proceedings in 2011.
‘He sees himself as the alpha male,’ continued the Parisian source. ‘He will get even more French as he fights her. They can turn cold very fast on their wives once the relationship is over.’
Aggressive: ‘He sees himself as the alpha male,’ said a Parisian source. ‘He will get even more French as he fights her. They can turn cold very fast on their wives once the relationship is over’; pictured in 2012
