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Mary-Kate Olsen: “I Would Never Wish My Upbringing on Anyone”

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At 24 years old — the same age as Lindsay Lohan — former child actress Mary-Kate Olsen seems to have her rocky years behind her.

Stars of Full House from infancy, Mary-Kate and her twin sister Ashley went on to become mini-moguls with TV, film and merchandising enterprises that made them multi-millionaires in their tweens. The sisters now have their own fashion lines incuding Elizabeth and James, The Row plus JCPenney's Olsenboye.

Related: PHOTOS: See Mary-Kate, Ashley and their lesser-known sibling!

And although she continues to act (she has a role in the 2011 Vanessa Hudgens horror flick Beastly), she tells Marie Claire mag that she can't relate to her past as a "little monkey performer."

"I look at old photos of me, and I don't feel connected to them at all," she tells the magazine. "I would never wish my upbringing on anyone…but I wouldn't take it back for the world."

The petite star famously battled an eating disorder, entering a facility in 2004, and her friendship with Heath Ledger at the time of his 2008 overdose death was closely scrutinized.

Related: PHOTOS: Child stars gone bad

Declining to discuss those well-known headlines in detail, she tells Marie Claire simply: "I think it's really important to be able to talk when something's wrong. I learned at a really young age that if you don't talk about it, it can drive you insane."

Related: PHOTOS: Catch up with your fave kid stars -- see what they look like today

Her biggest support system? Her sister. "Sometimes Ash and I have to bring each other back, or push each other more," she says. "It's really helpful to have another half; we're constantly checking in with each other."

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