Former New York Rangers star Sean Avery has broken his silence on the rumors surrounding his relationship with Mary-Kate Olsen.
Sean, 45, and Mary-Kate, 39, were rumored to be dating in the spring of 2024 when they were pictured spending time together in the Hamptons.
The duo was spotted strolling around Amagansett as they stopped by her store, The Row, during a rare sighting of the fashion designer.
People magazine reported at the time that they ‘have known one another for years’ with a source at the time insisting that were ‘just friends.’ They were believed to have had a ‘fling’ back in 2007.
Now, in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Sean has revealed what really went down between him and Ashley Olsen’s twin sister.
‘We’ve been friends for 20 years. That’s a long time relationship. We were like kids in New York growing up together,’ he said.
Sean Avery spoke to the Daily Mail exclusively about his rumored romance with Mary-Kate Olsen
The pair sparked dating rumors last year when they were spotted out together in the Hamptons
After laughing off romance rumors, he joked: ‘I mean, that’s the beauty of social media now and the algorithm. And I embrace all of that because anything that kicked that algo, you got to get that algorithm going. That’s the name of the game.
‘Of course people are always going to speculate, especially with her. She’s an icon.’
Sean went on to praise Mary-Kate’s career, which began when she was a child star on Full House.
‘Well, what I will say is that, I mean, what an incredible example of somebody that has reinvented herself many times,’ he said.
‘She’s one of the OGs and the two of them (her and Ashley), what they’ve done with their career under the scrutiny, like, as an athlete, as an artist, as an actor, I have nothing… I mean, the two of them are incredible.’
Their reunion last year came four years after the former actress split from her ex-husband Olivier Sarkozy, 56, and two years after Sean’s wife Hilary Rhoda, 38, filed for divorce.
Mary-Kate tied the knot with Sarkozy — who is the half-brother of Nicolas Sarkozy, the former President of France — in 2015.
She filed for divorce in April 2020. It was finalized in January 2021.
Mary-Kate, 39, and Sean, 45, have been spotted together on numerous occasions throughout the years (pictured in 2011 at a celebration of Style Wars hosted by The Common Good)
Their outing to the Hamptons came four years after the former actress split from her ex-husband Olivier Sarkozy (pictured together in 2017)
Sean and his ex Hilary Rhoda split in 2022 after seven years of marriage. The ex-athlete revealed to the Daily Mail that he and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit star are back together
Although they never had children of their own, Mary-Kate had become stepmother to the businessman’s two kids, Margot and Julien, whom he has with his first wife Charlotte Bernard.
Sean, for his part, was married to Hilary for seven years before they split. They have a five-year-old son named Nash.
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit star filed for divorce from the ex-pro athlete in July 2022 and, a few months later, requested a temporary restraining order against him.
The TRO had turned into a permanent one in September 2023 and was ordered by a judge to be in place for three years, meaning it would expire in September 2026.
However, according to court documents obtained by the Daily Mail, Sean had filed a request to dismiss the restraining order on Monday, August 11.
The reason for the dismissal noted in the filing read: ‘Mom and dad have reconciled…
‘Hilary and Sean have been living together for over a year.’
Speaking to the Daily Mail three days prior on August 8 he revealed: ‘Me and Hilary are together. We’re raising Nash. Everything’s great.
‘We’ve been friends for 20 years. That’s a long time relationship. We were like kids in New York growing up together,’ Sean said (pictured with her twin Ashley Olsen, right)
Talking about his wife, he said: ‘Me and Hilary are together. We’re raising Nash. Everything’s great’ (pictured with son Nash in 2022)
‘That’s the beauty of… it’s like artistic life is sort of mirroring – all these different things happen. You grow, you learn, and your perspective changes on everything, especially when you have kids. That changes everything, but everything’s great.’
He continued: ‘We’re parenting, we’re together. We’re getting it done.’
Sean, who was speaking at his book signing at Barnes & Noble in Bridgehampton, New York, insisted they ‘never got divorced.’ According to court records, their divorce action is still pending, and has not been dismissed yet.
He confessed to the Daily Mail: ‘It’s a little bit autobiographical, 100 percent.
‘I mean, I think that the book is inside baseball and maybe what happens behind the scenes, like, young guys making a lot of money that are famous and they’re having quite a bit of fun.’
‘It’s not all training and sleep – maybe more-so nowadays because the business is becoming a lot bigger in sports.’
He continued: ‘Everybody needs to read this book because this book is going to break open the romance category. No romance novel has ever been written this way.
‘This is going to change the genre… That’s part of the reason why I wrote it, was because when I read one, I said, “No, this is not what women are reading. We have to elevate this. We’ve got to turn it up.”‘
His book tour comes after he spent ‘months’ filming Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which is a ‘big top secret’ film.
The 2026 adaptation also stars Charlize Theron, Tom Holland, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson.
Sean’s new book, Summer Skate: A Novel, co-authored by Leslie Cohen hits shelves on September 9.
