Spencer Pratt has made a startling admission about Mary-Kate Olsen, 22 years in the making.
In his new memoir, The Guy You Loved to Hate: Confessions from a Reality TV Villain, which hit shelves Tuesday, The Hills star wrote about needing money for a trip to Brazil, where he planned to spend a month competing in jiujitsu and shooting an indie film. That’s how he hatched the plan to swipe photos of Full House star Mary-Kate Olsen from his friend Max Winkler — son of Happy Days’ Henry Winkler — to sell to the press.
Pratt wrote that the younger Winkler had a “photo shrine to his ex” in his bedroom from their short-lived relationship in the early 2000s.
“It was 2004, the golden age of tabloid voyeurism. One exclusive — ‘Mary-Kate’s Teen Romance!’ — could fund my entire Brazilian expedition,” Pratt wrote, noting that while he had never before profited from his “proximity to fame,” desperate times called for “desperate measures.”
Pratt wrote that he did ask Winkler for his permission to take the photos as part of his “healing process” post-breakup. “He didn’t say no, so I took that to be a yes,” Pratt wrote.
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“Each image was currency waiting to be converted,” he wrote. “It was hard not to grin.”
Pratt ultimately sold the images, which showed Olsen partying in Hollywood, to a photo agency for $50,000.
“Here I was, twenty years old, turning my buddy’s romantic misery into startup capital,” he wrote. “Who knew heartbreak could be such a growth industry?
“America was starving for celebrity intimacy, and I had access to the kitchen,” Pratt continued about his newfound business opportunity. “When you really think about it, it was a win-win. Mary-Kate got her rebel rebrand, Max got closure. And soon, cinema would get my masterpiece,” he said of his Brazilian film venture.
The Independent has contacted Olsen’s representatives for comment.
Pratt, 42, and his wife, Heidi Montag, 39, starred on The Hills for six seasons, leaving in 2010. They later appeared on several reality shows, including Celebrity Big Brother U.K., I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, and The Hills: New Beginnings. After marrying in 2008 (and again for the cameras in 2009, as Pratt noted in his memoir), the couple welcomed two sons, Gunner and Ryker.
The reality star recently announced his bid for Los Angeles mayor following the devastating 2025 California wildfires, in which he and Montag lost their Pacific Palisades home.
Pratt said: “Business as usual is a death sentence for Los Angeles, and I'm done waiting for someone to take real action. That's why I am running for mayor.”
He continued: “And let me be clear, this just isn’t a campaign, this is a mission, and we are going to expose the system. We are going into every dark corner of LA politics and disinfecting this city with our light. And when we are done, LA is going to be camera-ready again.”
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