Unpacking the decades-long feud between Spencer Pratt and Mary-Kate Olsen.

Spencer Pratt has been back in news recently, after losing the home he shared with wife Heidi Montag and their two sons, Gunner and Ryker, to the Pacific Palisades fires in Los Angeles.

The former Hills reality star and tabloid fixture has become something of an anti-hero, posting all day, every day on TikTok in the wake of the loss.

He's been talking about the fires, urging people to stream Heidi's album Superficial, and documenting life since the fire took their home, minute by monetised minute.

And look! Absolutely no hate to Spencer, because he's doing what he does best, and you have to respect the hustle, TBH. But all this Spencer Pratt content on our For You Pages has shaken loose a long-dormant piece of '00s trivia in my mind: the fact that he's been in a decades-long beef with none other than Mary-Kate Olsen.

Yes, Mary-Kate, of child-star-turned-billionaire-fashion-mogul fame.

If you're unfamiliar — or if you'd just like to enjoy some relatively low-stakes celebrity gossip for a few minutes while avoiding an email you should be replying to — join me, won't you?And let's take a walk down memory lane.

2004: Photos of Mary-Kate Olsen and Spencer Pratt partying together are printed in In Touch magazine.

Our story begins way back in 2004.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who have had an otherwise squeaky clean, teen-queen public image up until now, are plastered on the cover of a February issue of In Touch magazine with the headline 'TEENS GONE WILD'.

'TEENS GONE WILD!' Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen cover In Touch Weekly, February 23, 2004. Image: In Touch Weekly via popculturediedin2009.

The cover story features photos of a then-17 year old Mary-Kate Olsen in 2003, seemingly drunk at a house party with her high school boyfriend, Max Winkler (yes — Henry Winkler's son), as well as the one and only Spencer Pratt.

The In Touch Weekly cover story, featuring photos of Mary-Kate Olsen partying with Spencer Pratt in 2003. Credit: In Touch Weekly via popculturediedin2009.

Although tame by today's standards, these photos cause quite a stir, particularly given Mary-Kate is still 17 years old at the time of publication.

2007: Spencer Pratt claims he sold the photos to the tabloids.

Spencer Pratt is now a household name after joining the cast of The Hills for its second season.

He's Heidi Montag's new boyfriend (except for those few moments where he was also dating Audrina Patridge?), and Lauren Conrad simply hates him. Cue the sound of, "He's a SUCKY PERSON!" playing in your head. That's history!

What you may not know is that in 2005, Spencer Pratt got his reality TV start on a different reality show called The Princes of Malibu.

The show, which ran for one season, followed Brandon and Brody Jenner's hijinks as they lived with Linda Thompson and her then-husband, David Foster. (Thompson filed for divorce the day after the show premiered, and Foster went on to marry Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Yolanda Foster, because everyone on an LA-based reality series is connected in some way. They divorced in 2017.) Spencer appeared in the series as one of Brody's friends, and was also an executive producer for the series.

After the cancellation of The Princes of Malibu, Brody Jenner is cast on The Hills; and when he isn't dating co-stars Lauren Conrad or Kristin Cavallari, he's dating every other 2000s It Girl: think Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan, to name a few.

This dating profile scores Brody a feature interview in the now-defunct Details magazine, which is where we come back to the Spencer Pratt vs Mary-Kate Olsen of it all.

You see, Spencer is (for some reason?) present for Brody's interview, and it's here that he first makes the claim that he sold the photos of her at the 2003 party to the tabloids and scored a $50,000 pay day in the process.

Spencer's claim is printed in Brody's Details profile, along with an anecdote about how Spencer planned to make Brody famous by getting him to date Nicole Richie for fame.

"Here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna start dating Nicole Richie. And you're gonna get that skinny b**ch to eat, all right?" Pratt is quoted as saying, referring to the pair's alleged plan to seek fame.

"You are about to become The Guy Who Got Nicole Richie to Eat. Process that s**t, bro. You'll be, like, a f**kng hero to America."

Brody later tells People magazine that he felt like the Details profile mischaracterised his intentions toward Nicole Richie. The Details Editor-in-Chief tells People that they stand by their story "one hundred per cent".

2008: Mary-Kate Olsen says Spencer Pratt has a 'bad temper'.

While promoting her film The Wackness on The David Letterman Show in 2008, a now-22 year old Mary-Kate decides that it's time to take a little dig at Spencer.

Letterman sets her up for the anecdote with a question about whether she went to high school with any of the other young stars of the era.

"Well, you're a fan of The Hills, right?" Mary-Kate responds. "Well, Spencer Pratt—"

"What a little worm that guy is," Letterman interjects. "Don't you think he's a little wormy?"

"Yeah, I knew him in high school," she says. "He used to play on the soccer team for a high school and he… does not have a good temper. He walked out of a few games; he would walk off the field. He was like, 'Me or the coach!'"

Reader, I would ask that you keep the wording of this quote in mind. Specifically, that she "knew him in high school" and that he was "on the soccer team for a high school". It will be relevant later!

"Were you friends with the guy at the time, or…?" Letterman asks.

"No," Mary-Kate says definitively.

Letterman tries to get more gossip out of Mary-Kate, saying that he's surprised to hear that Spencer used to play soccer, because it doesn't look like he's ever "broken a sweat".

Mary-Kate laughs and says, "Oh my God, yeah. That brings up stories, but I don't know if I should talk about them!"

Letterman presses her for details, but Mary-Kate keeps mum.

"The Wackness is a great film!" she exclaims, laughing.

2008: Spencer Pratt calls Mary-Kate 'the less cute twin'.

Displeased with Mary-Kate's David Letterman interview, Spencer issues a statement to Us Weekly.

"I don't really get why she'd use my name to get press for her little indie film that no one's going to see," he says.

"She should probably focus more on not getting dressed in the dark than on me."

This was, of course, the period where Mary-Kate was frequently making headlines for her grungy, eclectic, vintage street style — or, as the tabloids called it at the time, "homeless chic".

He continues: "I know I've made it in Hollywood when a famous troll is talking about me on Letterman.

"I forgive her, though," he adds. "She's had to go through life as the less cute twin, which must be tough."

A month later, he issues a follow-up statement to Us Weekly, apologising for "trash talking" Mary-Kate.

"I apologise for getting caught up in trash talking, but she brought up an emotional subject when she mentioned the soccer stuff," Pratt says. "I know Dave was just doing his job in asking her. He's the best in the game at that.

"I respect Mary-Kate as a businesswoman," he adds. "I'm secretly jealous of her. I want my face on a lunchbox, too!"

2016: Spencer Pratt reiterates that he sold the photos of Mary-Kate to the tabloids.

Let's jump forward to 2016.

Social media is the norm, the Olsens have largely stopped interacting with the media, and The Hills has been cancelled since 2010. Spencer and Heidi's reality TV fame has waned, and most of the coverage they get is about their financial struggles.

In a 2016 interview with Matt James from Pop Culture Died in 2009 (that was also written up by Cosmopolitan), Spencer Pratt reiterates that he sold the photo of Mary-Kate Olsen to the tabloids. In fact, he says that selling that photo is how he ended up making a deal with paparazzi photo agency Pacific Coast News.

Remember how Spencer and Heidi were known for their inarguably iconic but incredibly staged paparazzi photos?

Well, Spencer says that photos like these — the "cheesy, over-the-top shots that the British audience loved" — were the result of a connection he made while selling the photos of Mary-Kate Olsen.

Through this connection, Spencer says that he and Heidi end up signing a "50/50 partnership with PCN" and that the couple "were making over a million dollars selling [their] paparazzi photos" for a time.

And what a time it was!

2022: Spencer Pratt backtracks, says he never sold the photo.

Cut to 2022, and Spencer is singing a different tune.

He posts a TikTok replying to creator Shannon Hill, who has been doing a deep dive on the lives of the Olsen twins. In it, he denies having ever sold the photo of Mary-Kate Olsen.

"Hate to break it to you, the photo that you referenced, I actually did not sell," he says.

"I'm in the photo. I have sold many photos to tabloids, and one of the key things is, you have to be the copyright holder, and that would mean you'd have to take the photo."

Spencer claims that his being in the photo means somebody else took it, and therefore somebody else sold it. He also says he is "very upset" about that, because he "would have loved to have been able to sell a photo and get it in the tabloid".

"On a positive note, the Olsens are billionaires, so I think everything worked out," he adds.

The 2016 interview that Spencer did with Pop Culture Died in 2009 has since been lost to time — so fast-forward a moment to 2025, where we reach out to do a little fact checking.

In a direct message on X (formerly Twitter), Matt from Pop Culture Died in 2009 confirms to Mamamia that Spencer told him he sold the photos when they spoke in 2016.

"Yes, he told me he sold the pictures, so I'm not sure why he'd deny it," Matt writes.

2022: Spencer Pratt posts a TikTok video asking why Mary-Kate is 'so obsessed' with him.

In a 2022 TikTok, Spencer Pratt revisits Mary-Kate's David Letterman interview as part of a content series he's doing titled The Spills (not to be confused with Mamamia's own podcast, The Spill!).

In the video, Spencer says he's "going after everyone who came for Spencer Pratt", before asking the viewers, "What substance do you think MK was on to [think] that we went to high school together?"

@spencerpratt

#thespills still not sure why MK went on David letterman to just spend this much time name dropping and talking about me. Mary Kate living in alternate reality where we went to high school together and she would go to my soccer games ???? Wow i wish i had tik tok back when these platforms would slander me with no response of the truth! The level of media conglomerate take down after me is so crazy when you start going thru it! #marykate #olsens #therow

♬ original sound - Spencer Pratt

He continues, "She went to Campbell Hall, in the Valley. I went to Crossroads in Santa Monica. So, if you rewind that clip back, she said we went to high school together—"

Now, remember how we talked about Mary-Kate's phrasing? That she "knew him" in high school and that he played for "a soccer team"? This is where that phrasing becomes relevant, because she didn't actually say they went to high school together.

Anyway, back to Spencer!

"Clearly, MK was mad that this photo got out," he says, with a copy of the original magazine on hand.

"She assumed — she was probably right — that I had something to do with it. So she goes out — " the camera pans to another tabloid Spencer has, this one showing an article titled 'Mary-Kate's revenge on Spencer' — "and gets her revenge on me, by making t-shirts that say 'Heidi's ho', and wearing them around.

"Wow! Somebody had way too much time on their hands," he concludes.

As for whether Mary-Kate actually did have t-shirts with 'Heidi's HO!!!!!' printed on them? Well, let's read the article that Spencer cited, because there are precisely zero photos of such a shirt existing, the story wasn't picked up by any other news outlets, and this one very specific article that Spencer had on hand has once again been otherwise lost to time. Interesting!

The article quotes "an insider" as the source for the story, which includes the line, "Mary-Kate's rep denies the existence of the t-shirt."

The insider also claims that Mary-Kate Olsen was friends with Lauren Conrad at the time, and that "Lauren found out about the shirt and wants one."

"Lauren told [Mary-Kate] she wants to wear it, so Mary-Kate is going to send her one," the insider said.

And that's about it, folks! Twenty-two years of — let's be so honest — mostly one-sided beef between Spencer Pratt and Mary-Kate Olsen.

Feature Image: Getty Images.

Author's note: Thank you to Matt from Pop Culture Died in 2009 for helping clarify and confirm some of the details of this article.