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Articles written by Hitha Prabhakar

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Inside Their Strange World

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They built an empire as child stars–then they grew up. Now, at 21 with money to burn, the Olsen sisters are living in the fast lane–and still clinging to each other.

Even for die-hard New York City clubbers, it’s a late night. But although it’s nearly dawn, Mary-Kate Olsen is still going strong. The 21-year-old actress has been on her feet for hours at Manhattan hot spot Beatrice Inn, celebrating Valentine’s Day with her boyfriend, artist Nate Lowman, 29, drinking Stella Artois beers and vodka and sodas, chain-smoking Marlboro Reds and, every once in a while, ducking behind a booth with pals for privacy. She’s ordered her three bodyguards to give her space, so they keep their distance, waiting for the night to end. Only it doesn’t. After the bar closes at 4:30 a.m., Mary-Kate spends an hour in an upstairs lounge before heading to another club, telling pals, “We’re going to keep partying.”

Not so long ago, the names Mary-Kate and Ashley were synonymous with good clean fun. But these days the Olsens are arguably better known for burning the candle at both ends. Fixtures at exclusive nightspots like the Beatrice Inn and L.A.’s Chateau Marmont, Mary-Kate and her more low-key sister are at the center of a bicoastal, bar-hopping party scene in which insiders say drugs are common. It is the same fast-lane lifestyle that ensnared the young actor Heath Ledger, whose Jan. 22 death from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs is now focusing attention on the Olsens–and particularly on Mary-Kate, who casually dated Ledger for three months before his death (she was also the first person notified by Ledger’s massage therapist, who found his body, and she sent three of her own bodyguards to his loft). And in the wake of Ledger’s death, the Olsens don’t seem to have slowed down: Just two days after the tragedy, both sisters were out together hitting clubs on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. “They are young girls, they have money, and they like to party,” says someone close to the Olsens, who turned 21 last July. “I wouldn’t call them out of control, but I’ve seen them get pretty wild.”

Even in the rarefied, celebrity-driven world they inhabit, the Olsens are seen as mysterious wraiths teetering on high heels, seldom removing their sunglasses or speaking to anyone outside a clique of old friends–many of them the children of Hollywood moguls. Most of the dozens of friends and associates interviewed for this story (the Olsens declined comment) say there are only two people allowed full access to their inner circle: themselves. “They are cold,” says a pal. “They’re not mean like Paris or Lindsay, but they are really only close to their boyfriends and each other. They’re kind of emotionally uninterested in friends. We aren’t talking about normal people here.”

Then again, theirs have hardly been normal lives. At 9 months, the two Sherman Oaks, Calif., natives were sharing the role of Michelle Tanner on the family-friendly sitcom Full House, a part that helped make them Gen Y icons. A lucrative series of home videos and licensing deals followed, creating a billion dollar entertainment empire–and a combined net worth of some $300 million for the Olsens–all before they turned 18. “The work we did wasn’t about acting,” Mary-Kate told ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY last September. “It was about pleasing people and making kids smile.” By the time both young women enrolled at New York University in 2004, cracks in that facade were starting to show. After a family intervention, Mary-Kate Olsen spent six weeks at Utah’s Cirque Lodge rehab center to treat an eating disorder. Both sisters soon left NYU–and became better known as bizarrely garbed fashionistas with a penchant for dancing on nightclub tables and subsisting on cigarettes, sweets and Starbucks lattes. “They both changed a lot; they got real crazy,” says someone familiar with the twins. “They definitely started going a little bit hardcore.”

Isolated from peers by their vast wealth and fame, Mary-Kate, the edgier sister (she is known to write dark poetry and has seen the S&M romantic comedy Secretary “a hundred times,” says a friend) and Ashley, more laid-back and stylish (she interned for designer Zac Posen), have had separate apartments in Manhattan as well as homes in Los Angeles. Older by two minutes, “Ashley tries to be mature,” says a source. “Mary-Kate is more amped to party.” At one recent event, Mary-Kate “was dancing with her arms up in the air, doing this spastic move with her arms,” says a source. “She was the only one dancing and everyone was looking at her.” At around 5’2″, the pint-size sisters are dwarfed by massive bodyguards when they duck into Manhattan boutique Jeffrey, where they have a personal shopper, and Barneys, where they hit the basement spa for regular $90 eyebrow pluckings.

Yet they also spend a lot of time in their Manhattan office, working mainly on their three clothing lines (their Mary-Kate and Ashley line sells at Wal-Mart, while their two newer lines, the Row and Elizabeth and James, are more upscale and, say sources in the industry, likely to be successful). Ashley is more focused on their fashion businesses, while Mary-Kate “is really trying to make the acting thing work,” says a friend. She played a Bible-thumping pot dealer on the TV show Weeds and a young hippie in the indie hit The Wackness, both to critical acclaim. “She came in with no entourage, very professional,” says Weeds creator Jenji Kohan. “She was a very natural actress; she earned the role.”

Perhaps the most startling change in their lives is that the Olsens have, says one source, “drifted from each other. They have major issues as sisters. Ashley thinks Mary-Kate follows her too much. Ashley is like, ‘Get your own life. Get your own friends.’” Lately Ashley has been hanging out with her new pal, designer Estee Stanley, 38; the two partied in Aspen over the New Year. Yet despite their differences, the Olsens do still lean on each other. After Ledger’s death–”a devastating blow to Mary-Kate,” says a friend–Ashley flew to New York City to be with her sister. “If they didn’t have each other, they wouldn’t be where they are now,” says a source. “They are best friends.”

What’s more, neither sister seems interested in changing her ways to satisfy critics. Designer Jenni Kayne, who knows both Olsens, shrugs off reports about their wild behavior. “I don’t see that,” says Kayne. “I see their clothes hanging up at Bergdorf’s and Barneys. I see success. And everyone else should see that too.”

What the Olsens see is a world only they can fully understand. In 2004 Ashley told PEOPLE about an essay she wrote for her NYU application, which compared her chaotic life to the abstract painting “Number One” by Jackson Pollock. “Some people look at it as complete mayhem, or just paint splattered on a canvas, and yet there’s so much emotion behind it,” Ashley explained. “Some people will never, ever get that. No one knows what it’s been like for us, and we don’t expect anyone to know, good, bad or amazing. But we do expect people to respect the decisions we make.”

“They are young girls, they have money, and they like to party…. I’ve seen them get pretty wild”

–A FRIEND OF THE OLSENS

“They say they don’t want attention. But fame is all they know”

–A SOURCE

LIFE IN THE FAST LANE

Worth hundreds of millions, the Olsens are VIPs at some of the most exclusive clubs and expensive stores in New York and Los Angeles.

Britney Interrupted

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As the singer struggles with life in a psych ward, her parents accuse her pal Sam Lutfi of cruelty and abuse.

On the bright, sunny wing of the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital that has been home to Britney Spears since she was admitted on Jan. 31, the singer is allowed to wear her own clothes–and, like others at the 136-bed unit on the UCLA campus–make use of a common kitchen to fix a snack and an open-air deck to grab a smoke. She is not permitted to use her cell phone–but if she can come up with the spare change, she has access to a pay phone on the floor. And so it was that on Super Bowl Sunday she called her father, Jamie, who was working as a caterer at a party, to ask him to visit her. In court papers filed in his successful bid to temporarily take over his daughter’s affairs, Spears says he arrived at the hospital to find her lying in bed. He leaned over to kiss her, but she turned her head away.

“I love you,” he told her. “No, you don’t,” Britney responded. She got out of bed and said, “The doctor told me you are keeping me in here.” When her father denied it, she said, “Somebody’s lying. You put me in here.” After a nurse assured her that it was her doctors, not her dad, who had committed her, she said, “Come on, Daddy. Let’s get out of here. Take my hand and let’s walk out of here together.”

“I wish I could,” he told her. “But I can’t.”

And so goes a sad new day in the life of the princess of pop, whose out-of-control lifestyle–sources say she had not slept for three days when she was admitted to UCLA–has cost her the keys to the kingdom: from the right to see sons Preston, 2, and Jayden, 17 months, to the ability to spend her hard-earned money. One day after Dr. Deborah Nadel, a Santa Monica-based psychiatrist who had been treating Spears as an outpatient for a week, issued the request for an involuntary 72-hour lockup–now extended to 14 days–an L.A. court named her father, 55, co-temporary conservator of her estate, in control of her estimated $100 million empire.

Could the force that sold upwards of 70 million CDs truly have fallen so far? According to her mother: farther. In a stunning affidavit presented to the court on Feb. 1 to secure a temporary restraining order against best buddy Sam Lutfi (see box), Lynne, 52, described a chaotic scene on Jan. 28 in which her daughter wandered around her Beverly Hills home, drugged, confused and showing “the understanding of a very young girl.”

Ironically, Spears’ latest hospitalization and the return of her parents to the scene had been set into motion by Lutfi, who had finally persuaded Spears to seek treatment from Dr. Nadel, a psychiatrist recommended by her lawyers.

According to her father’s court documents, “Britney is currently in severe mental distress” and suffering “from several mental health disorders which are not being treated.” That distress showed in the weeks preceding the UCLA hospitalization: fighting with on-again, off-again beau Adnan Ghalib, 35, as well as Lutfi, 33, taking paparazzi on high-speed chases and just breaking down in tears.

On Jan. 28, Lynne–who had used Lutfi as a reliable conduit to her daughter since their failed reunion in October–arrived from Kentwood, La., and joined a small group inside Britney’s Beverly Hills home including Lutfi, Ghalib and Alli Sims for what a source calls a “bonding session.” But it did not go well. Later, in her court declaration, Lynne accused Lutfi of drugging Britney, verbally abusing her, cutting off all phone lines in the house and disposing of cell phone chargers in an attempt to control her. Lutfi declined PEOPLE’s request to address the accusations in Lynne’s file. But a source close to him says, “Sam’s not worried. He can handle this.” Indeed, Lutfi had told PEOPLE a few days earlier that he “knew the family would try and force him out of the picture. [They] are trying to look like heroes, swooping in after all the dirty work is done. Their worry is being financially cut off.” Sources in the Spears camp vehemently deny the accusations. “Jamie has a job. And Lynne is a simple, Christian person, not flashy. She’s always in jeans and sweatshirts. She doesn’t care about money.”

With the court siding with Jamie, Lutfi, the man who was a companion to Spears, who was at the hospital 30 minutes after she arrived–and ran to get her In-N-Out burgers the next day–is now barred from having any contact with Spears in any way: phone, fax, text or e-mail. How Britney feels about her parents assuming control of both her life and her finances is unclear; she has had strained relations with them for years. At a hearing on Feb. 4 estate attorney Adam Streisand claimed she had hired him to try to have her dad’s conservatorship rejected–to no avail. Why? A court-appointed attorney who had met with Spears in the hospital testified that she “does not understand the nature of these proceedings” and “lacks the capacity” to hire representation. “Britney’s feelings toward her parents are off and on,” says a family friend. “One minute she is begging for their presence, the next she wants nothing to do with them. But they are actively trying to get her help.”

If there is any silver lining in Spears’ latest hospitalization, it is that, unlike her trip to Cedars-Sinai on Jan. 3, she did not resist when Nadel issued the 72-hour hold. She was at home with her mom and Sims when, at 1:10 a.m., a tight formation of emergency vehicles arrived at her front entrance; twelve minutes later she was on her way to the UCLA hospital–no screaming, no standoff. During her 14-day hold, her doctor can discharge her to outpatient treatment if she is deemed well enough or apply to keep her longer–a move UCLA psychiatrist Dr. Carole Lieberman (who is not treating Spears) would advise. “I hope the psychiatrists have the courage to keep her there more than 30 days. If she starts cooperating and the psychiatrists take her off the hold, she’s so impulsive she might decide to leave. She needs six months in a psychiatric hospital and [to] work with [doctors] in therapy to figure out her underlying diagnosis.”

While she stays at UCLA, Spears will not get star treatment. Instead of the paparazzi following her, she will likely be monitored not just by doctors but, since UCLA is a teaching hospital, students for whom she is not a celebrity; she’s homework. “The place is locked up tight,” says a former UCLA student who visited a friend at the clinic in 2006 “You had to be escorted by one of the big guys with a set of keys. It was claustrophobic.” And rigid. In her unit, Spears is expected to make her bed and change her linens, eat at meal-times: breakfast around 7:30 a.m., about the time she used to come in from a night of partying, lunch at noon and dinner shortly after 5 p.m. Though she can dine in her room, she is encouraged to mingle with other patients in the dining room, which, like the private bed and bathrooms, is “very drab,” says addiction specialist Marty Brenner. Adds a psychologist who practices at UCLA: “If I were looking for a hospital that was like a hotel–more luxurious–I’d go to Cedars-Sinai. But if I were really sick I’d go to UCLA. Doctors, nurses, everyone will work round the clock to help patients.”

Spears’ stay could even help her reconnect with her children. “Hospitalization is tragic,” says Mary Lund, a Santa Monica-based clinical psychologist who has been evaluating and mediating custody cases for 19 years. “But many people who are hospitalized are able to get help and function better–including in their parenting.” And while nearly everything in Britney’s life is up in the air–from her custody case to her father’s power over her estate (another hearing is set for Feb. 14) to the length of her stay at UCLA–her own goal in life remains unchanged. Even in the fogged mental state her mother described when she was at home shortly before being taken to the hospital, Spears voiced the same sentiment over and over: “When do I get to see my babies?”

“When do I get to see my babies? … Can’t I see another psychiatrist so I can see my babies?”

“Lynne’s tried to mend relations with Britney only to have Sam tear them apart”

–A FAMILY FRIEND

“Come on, Daddy…. Take my hand and let’s walk out of here together”

CAN SHE SAVE BRITNEY?

Psychiatrist Deborah Nadel, whom Britney Spears chose from a list of doctors provided by her custody lawyers, comes highly recommended by her peers. “She’s an excellent clinician and an excellent psychiatrist,” says Harold Young, clinical director at the Maple Counseling Center in Beverly Hills, a nonprofit center where Nadel, 44, provided low-cost counseling for five years in the mid-’90s. “[She's] well thought of in the therapeutic community.” Sources say Nadel initiated Spears’ second hospitalization shortly after beginning treatment of the troubled pop star. Board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Nadel graduated from the University of California Medical School in San Francisco and did her residency at UCLA. “I think,” says Young, Spears “is in somebody’s hands who will be caring, concerned, compassionate and respectful.”

A MOTHER LASHES OUT

After arriving at Britney’s home on Jan. 28, Lynne Spears got a shocking look inside her daughter’s world. In a petition for a restraining order against Sam Lutfi, she charges:

  • “[Sam] had disposed of all of the phone chargers and had made the house phones unworkable.”
  • “He [said] that he grinds up Britney’s pills…. He told us that he puts them in her food and that that was the reason she had been quiet for the last three days (she had been sleeping).”
  • “Sam disabled all of Britney’s cars.”
  • “Sam had told Britney that she was an unfit mother, a piece of trash and a whore, that she cares more about Adnan [Ghalib], her current boyfriend, than she cares about her kids, and that she does not deserve her kids.”
  • “Sam told me, ‘You’d better learn that I control everything. I control [her] business manager. I control her attorneys and the security guards at the gate. They don’t listen to Britney, they listen to me.’”
  • “He told me, ‘I’m the one who spends 24/7 with your daughter. I sleep in cars outside her house so she can’t leave…. You people throw everyone under the bus. If you don’t listen to me I’m going to make your name s– in the papers.’”
  • “[When Britney] picked up a bottle of pills and read part of the label and asked us, ‘What does insomnia mean?’ Sam told her that the pills will help her stay awake.”
  • (When Britney asked what she had to do to see her babies) “Sam answered … ‘Take the pills I tell you to take.’”
  • “He also hides her dog London. She looks for him all over the house crying, and then Sam brings out the dog from the hiding place and acts like her savior.”
  • “The paparazzi reported to Sam and addressed him with great respect. They treated him like a general. He instructed them to get her back to the house.”
  • “He said to me, ‘If you try to get rid of me, she’ll be dead and I’ll piss on her grave.’”

WHAT’S AT STAKE

ESTIMATED NET WORTH $100 MILLON

While lawyer Adam Streisand told the court Spears’ assets totaled $40 million, Forbes magazine last year estimated her net worth at $100 million, and court documents say she still has $737,000 monthly income. Her father, Jamie, will temporarily oversee holdings that include:

REAL ESTATE: $22.6 MILLION Including four houses and land in Louisiana

MUSIC: $26.5 MILLION The bulk was from concert tours (the last was in 2004); also includes royalties and record contracts

ENDORSEMENTS: $21.6 MILLION Including TV and print ads

MERCHANDISE: $16.7 MILLION From T-shirts to perfume

*STATISTICS COURTESY OF FORBES MAGAZINE

WHERE IS JAMIE LYNN?

Some 2,000 miles away from her big sister’s hospital room, the pregnant 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears spends quiet days in Kentwood, La., noshing on grilled chicken salads from one of the family’s favorite take-out joints, Crossroads, and staying mostly behind the iron gates of Serenity, the mansion. “She’s not showing–her stomach’s not big at all,” says a source close to the family. Adds another source close to the Spears clan: “She’s taking full responsibility for her own life, making good choices and good decisions.” The teen continues to work on her GED while being cared for by an adult guardian–a family friend–while Lynne is in Los Angeles. And she is still seeing her baby’s father, Casey Aldridge, 18, sources tell PEOPLE. “I’m thankful for the choice she’s making,” says family friend Darlene Hughes. “I’m proud of her, and I know the baby will be raised in a wonderful, loving home.”

Mischa Buys Rocker T-Shirts for Nicole Richie’s Baby

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Nicole Richie‘s baby can rock – and be rocked – at the same time, thanks to gifts from Mischa Barton.

“I got her a bunch of rocker tees for the baby, with different types of logos of rock bands on them,” Barton, 21, told PEOPLE at Wednesday’s launch party for Keds’ spring 2008 campaign. “And she loved them!”

Barton explains, “She is going to have the most fabulously dressed baby, I am sure, because she is so stylish herself.”

The Rolling Stones and AC/DC logo T-shirts were impulse buys for Barton. “They were so unique,” she said. “I just loved them!”

Richie, 26, is due when January, with her first child with boyfriend Joel Madden – and Barton had to shop not knowing the baby’s gender.

“She actually doesn’t know what she is having,” says Barton. “She wants it to be a surprise.”

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Caught in the Act!

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Jessica Simpson and stylist pal Jessica Paster, feasting on spaghetti and lobster at West Hollywood eatery Il Sole. The pair then jetted off to the Chateau Marmont’s lounge, where they “laughed lots” and sipped on white wine. Nearby, a solo Heath Ledger and a pal lounged on a sofa while Orlando Bloom chilled. Simpson then continued her girls’ night out at trendy club Area, where she “had fun to the beat of (Blondie’s) ‘Call Me,’ ” says a clubgoer.

Jamie Foxx, pouring vodka into the mouths of several ladies who visited his table at Hollywood hot spot Les Deux. Also making the scene: Matthew Perry and Michael Vartan, who hung out with a large group of guys at a table near the bar.

Jesse Bradford, keeping the party going after the New York City premiere of his film Flags of Our Fathers. The actor invited several hundred people to The Plumm club, which he co-owns with nightlife guru Noel Ashman. Only problem, Bradford forgot that the club isn’t open on Monday nights. Not wanting to disappoint the waiting crowd, Ashman opened the doors with his keys, and he and Bradford played bartender until 4 a.m.

Jermaine Dupri Launches Tell-All Book

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In his dishy new memoir, Young, Rich, and Dangerous: The Making of A Music Mogul, Jermaine Dupri looks back on his successful producing career and the big names he worked with – to say nothing of the one singer who stole his heart: Janet Jackson.

At Monday night’s Manhattan launch of the book, the 35-year-old hip-hop impresario and rapper, with a very svelte Jackson at his side, told PEOPLE: “I’m excited. I get to add the title ‘author’ to my titles, I guess. … I can’t wait to get to a bookstore and see it tomorrow.”

Besides Jackson – who said of her boyfriend’s book, “I think it’s awesome” – also at the hotspot Marquee to help celebrate the newly published author: rapper Nas and wife Kelis, Boyz II Men and Joey Fatone, who told PEOPLE, “I haven’t read the book, but I am excited to read it.”

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Rehabbing Richie Sambora Steps Out with Bon Jovi

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Richie Sambora was all smiles Wednesday night as the rehabbing rocker stepped out with his fellow Bon Jovi bandmates to be honored by the Recording Academy’s New York Chapter.

Sambora, who’s been receiving ongoing treatment, declared, “Welcome to the record business rehab.”

Before accepting the honor along with the band, Sambora, wearing a black suit and looking rested and happy, told Foxnews.com’s Roger Friedman, “I’m sober, I’m good.”

Of his time at the Cirque Lodge in Utah (where Lindsay Lohan is also receiving treatment), he said, “I’m going back just to do finish this weekend. I figured, why not get to the bottom of this and really understand it?”

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Caught in the Act! VMAs Edition

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Beyoncé, showing up just after midnight for a joint post-VMA bash and birthday celebration at boyfriend Jay-Z’s club 40/40. The lavish affair featured glass-encased honeycombs filled with live bees (B for Beyoncé) and flat projection screens playing a montage of the b-day girl’s performances and music videos. The Versace-wearing singer (who won best R&B video for “Check On It”) got hugs and well wishes from her family – parents Tina and Mathew Knowles, sister Solange – and celeb pals including former Destiny’s Child bandmates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, plus Usher, Ludacris, Andy Roddick and Rihanna.

But Beyoncé (who marks her 25th on Sept. 4, the same day her B’Day album is released internationally) also made time to cuddle with her man. She draped her arms over Jay-Z’s shoulders and at one point he leaned over and gave her a sweet kiss.

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Young and Rich

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Fueled by blockbuster hits and marketing savvy, a new generation of kids are cashing in. How today’s wealthiest teen stars earn their money–and have fun spending it.
$50 MILLION POTTER PAYCHECK

the wiz kid DANIEL RADCLIFFE ACTOR Age: 17

  • IN THE MONEY July 23, Radcliffe’s 18th birthday, will be a magic day for the star of the Harry Potter movies: He’ll gain access to his $19 million investment fund–which he’s socked away in a company jointly held with his parents Alan, a literary agent, and Marcia, a casting director. But with two more movies still to go–for which Radcliffe will be paid a reported total of $50 million–he can conjure up plenty more golden galleons where that came from. British newspapers have estimated that Radcliffe currently has a total net worth of $35 million or more, making him the U.K.’s richest teen.
  • FIRST PAYCHECK $320,000 at age 11 for the first two Potter films.
  • BIGGEST SPLURGE He recently dropped $17,000 on a custom-made Savoir mattress. But come his landmark birthday, “I don’t think I’m going to do anything particularly exciting,” says Radcliffe, an only child who lives with his parents in London. “People seem to expect me to splash out on a classic-car collection, but I’ve never been into cars or anything like that.” He’s more into cricket, theater (he shed his clothes for a recent turn in Equus in London), reading (lately Nabokov) and painter-sculptor Jim Hodges. “I know I’m lucky to be paid all this money to do what I love,” he said in Britain’s Daily Mail, but “[money is] not something that affects the way I think about things.”

How do Harry Potter’s COSTARS stack up?

EMMA WATSON Age: 17 She will receive an estimated $5 million for each of the last two Potter films–meaning Watson (who has one younger brother) will have no problem following through on her plans to go to college. “Let’s be honest: I have enough money never to have to work again, but I would never want that,” she told Parade.

RUPERT GRINT Age: 18 The actor who plays Ron Weasley also signed on for an estimated $5 million for each of the last two movies. The eldest of five siblings, he is enjoying every cent: “Recently I got an ice cream van,” says Grint, who also has an all-terrain vehicle. “That’s been really good fun. Usually I’m quite sensible with my [money].”

$10 MILLION IN ENDORSEMENTS

the phenom MICHELLE WIE GOLFER Age: 17 She’s only made $3,273 this year on the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour (blame a wrist injury), but Wie commands more than $10 million a year thanks to deals with Nike, Sony and Omega. For fun, the Stanford-bound only child shops for exotic earrings in her hometown of Honolulu: “I like going to the mall.”

Who’s the richest teen ROYAL?

PIERRE CASIRAGHI HEIR Age: 19 He’s tall, tan, and his family owns its own country: Monaco. Pierre Casiraghi, Princess Caroline’s younger son, stands to eventually inherit upward of $260 million. (By comparison, Brit ain’s teen princesses Beatrice and Eugenie’s estimated worth is $5 million each.) While big sibs Andrea, 23, and Charlotte, 20, often grab the spotlight, Pierre, an economics student in Milan, “is the most extroverted” of the family, says an acquaintance. He plays the sax and has stepped out with some of Europe’s most eligible aristocratic bachelorettes.

the mini MOGULS

EARNED $12 MILLION IN 2006

HILARY DUFF ACTRESS-SINGER Age: 19

  • IN THE MONEY Her movie paychecks top $2 million, and she’s sold 13 million albums worldwide. But as CEO of her own lifestyle company, she earns about $12 million a year, according to Forbes. Credit growing sales of her Stuff by Hilary Duff clothing line, jewelry and home decor for tweens, which is sold in stores such as Target and Wal-Mart. “It’s so funny that people think that I’m a mogul,” she says. “I definitely do know a lot about [running a business], but I have so many people that help me.”
  • BIGGEST SPLURGE Watches, Marc Jacobs bags and “things for my house” in L.A. She and big sis Haylie, 22, also just indulged in a St. Bart’s vacay.
  • HOLD THE PORSCHE “I definitely don’t just buy what I want,” she says. “My business manager says I’m well behaved.” Case in point: Duff thought about buying a Porsche Cayenne Turbo for nearly $100,000, but her money man said, “You’re a terrible driver. You don’t need that kind of power.”
  • POWER MOVE She’s tackling the juniors market with a top-selling perfume (With Love … Hilary Duff from Elizabeth Arden) and an upcoming fashion line.

Which sibs are the Next Olsens?

COLE & DYLAN SPROUSE ACTORS Age: 14 For starters, they’ve already partnered with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s Dualstar Entertainment Group. The Sprouse twins (The Suite Life of Zack & Cody) have their own magazine, a clothing line and a new series of adventure novels for boys.

ALY & AJ MICHALKA SINGERS-ACTRESSES Ages: Aly is 18, AJ is 16 Their album Into the Rush has sold more than 700,000 copies, and Honey-Comb cereal put the sisters on 7 million boxes. Next? An MTV movie, another album and national tour–plus dolls, video games and makeup.

the next BIG things

RIHANNA SINGER Age: 19

  • IN THE MONEY The Barbados-bred singer topped the global charts in 2005 and 2006 and now has a new summer smash: the No. 1 single “Umbrella.” Her latest CD, Good Girl Gone Bad, sold more than 200,000 copies its first two weeks out. While she’s still under her initial multi-album contract with pal Jay-Z’s Def Jam label, she also snagged six-figure endorsement deals with CoverGirl cosmetics and Venus razors.
  • SPEND OR SAVE? “Both, actually,” says Rihanna, who has two younger brothers. “I don’t like to waste money. I buy things that I’m going to get my money’s worth out of, things I’m going to use a lot. I like to splurge on makeup and shoes–Louboutins! My mom loves bags. I bought her a Fendi.”

SHE MADE $2 MILLION LAST YEAR

High School Musical’s hot couple … WHO’S RICHER, ZAC or VANESSA?

  • POWER COUPLE Real-life sweethearts Zac Efron, 19, and Vanessa Hudgens, 18, nabbed big bonuses when the Disney Channel movie scored, got raises for the sequel according to The New York Times and recently vacationed in a $3,100-a-night villa in Maui.
  • GIRLS RULE But only Hudgens notched a gold debut album and an endorsement deal with Neutrogena. Forbes.com estimated her income last year at $2 million.
  • BOYS DON’T CRY After costarring in this month’s Hairspray, Efron is expected to take the lead role in the comedy 17, now in development.

ROMEO RAPPER-ACTOR Age: 17 At age 11, the oldest son of rap mogul Master P released his first album, which went gold. Since then he’s dropped three more records, starred in his own TV show, launched a clothing line, collected a slew of cars–and told 48 Hours he’s saved $50 million. Next: He’s up to play basketball for USC.

the screen QUEENS

HER LATEST ANNUAL INCOME: $2 MILLION

HAYDEN PANETTIERE ACTOR-SINGER Age: 17

  • IN THE MONEY The indestructible cheerleader of NBC’s Heroes sure seems unstoppable: She’s a face for Neutrogena, pre-tweens love her Disney soundtracks–cue “I Still Believe” from 2007′s Cinderella III–and her debut album drops in 2008 Added up, that’s $2 million a year, Forbes estimates. She also has a bright endorsement future. Says an industry source: “She’s fresh, friendly–the girl next door.”
  • FIRST PAYCHECK Panettiere (whose brother Jansen, 12, is also an actor) did a Playskool ad at just 11 months old, then starred on soaps and in films like 2000′s Remember the Titans. (Next? Fireflies in the Garden with Julia Roberts.)
  • BIGGEST SPLURGE Ahhh … the spa. Says Panettiere: “I get facials all the time.”

MILEY CYRUS Age: 14 The Hannah Montana star has her second No. 1 album–plus part of the profits from her show’s product line. Dad Billy Ray Cyrus still gives her a monthly $300 allowance.

DAKOTA FANNING Age: 13 Her per-movie asking price? $3 million. That’s not surprising since her movies–including Charlotte’s Web–have made more than $600 million.

EMMA ROBERTS Age: 16 Julia’s niece, who just played Nancy Drew, is earning a million-dollar paycheck for the upcoming film Wild Child.

How the Stars Partied Before the VMAs

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With the MTV Video Music Awards on Thursday night, stars including Jessica Simpson, Vanessa Minnillo and Justin Timberlake have been in New York City all week to host parties, hit the clubs and collect swag from celebrity suites.

Though the awards will be at Radio City Music Hall (check out the nominees here), PEOPLE hit all the hot pre-VMA events – which are sometimes as memorable as the show itself:

During the day on Tuesday at Marquee, celebs swarmed the Polaroid Lounge, cruising for the perfect freebee:Vanessa Minnillo sipped champagne while booking through the suite in a mere 15 minutes. Why? She was late for work. Still, she collected gear including a camera and a Sidekick, which may come in handy for keeping in touch with Nick Lachey when he’s on the road.

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