While cute-as-a-button Olympia Valance has captured the heart of the nation in the last few years, it’s easy to forget she’s not the only star in her family.
WATCH BELOW: Olympia Valance on Dancing With The Stars
A working actress, Olympia is best known for her roles in Playing for Keeps and Neighbours, and she’s currently competing on Dancing With The Stars for their 2022 All Stars season.
Between her iconic fashion moments, her high-octane Instagram, and her adorable relationship with fiancée Thomas Bellchambers, it seems Olympia was born for public life.
However, she has always followed in the footsteps of her older sister, Holly, who had a very successful career in the mid-2000s after launching off her own Neighbours role.
But in recent years, Holly has become something of a recluse. She has no public social media accounts, and although she’s regularly spotted at events in both the US, where she lives, and her husband’s native London, very little is known about what she gets up to these days.
Holly and Olympia are actually half-sisters, and are 10 years apart, with Holly being born in 1983, and Olympia coming along in 1993.
Both girls had successful modelling careers before joining the cast of Neighbours to kick off their acting careers. Holly starred as Felicity ‘Flick’ Scully from 1999 until 2002, before deciding to pursue a career in music.
Her first single, Kiss Kiss, was released in April, 2002 and saw immediate success, charting in the top 10 across 17 countries. Her second single, Down Boy peaked at number two on the UK charts, and number three in Australia.
She followed up her singles with the release of her first album, Footprints. Hot on the heels was another album, State of Mind, released the following year.
Despite her success, Holly didn’t make any more music, later telling Men’s Style, “I do something until it’s not fun anymore and then move on. Music wasn’t fun anymore.”
Holly continued to pursue acting for a few years, and had occasional guest-star roles on the likes of CSI: Miami and Entourage, before scoring a recurring role in Prison Break, which she worked on for two seasons.
During this period, Holly still kept her life quite public, and at the time spoke relatively openly with the press.
She sat down for a lengthy chat with the Daily Mail in 2010, and shared candid details of a new romance she was enjoying with British billionaire property developer Nick Candy, who would go on to become her husband.
“I’ve got such a disgusting, wide, smug grin on my face all the time … my friends just want to slap me,” she divulged. “I’ve never been so happy.”
She also admitted to feeling overwhelmed by his wealth at the beginning of their relationship.
“I rang my mum and said: ‘I don’t think I can do this because it’s just too much’,” she recounted.
“And she said: ‘you can’t hold that against the man. He’s a hard-working genius and he’s got as much right as anyone else to love and be loved. So, you just stop looking at his bespoke chandelier and his gorgeous car and start focusing on him’.
“I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to it, and I’m not sure Nick will either because he’s also from a very normal background,” Holly shared at the time.
Despite her early reservations, the pair tied the knot in 2012 in a ceremony that cost an estimated £3 million (around $5.6 million in Aussie dollars.) .
The happy couple had Katy Perry attend to serenade their guests, and guests such as Simon Cowell, and royal family members Beatrice, Eugenie, and Sarah, Duchess of York, were all in attendance.
And since? Holly has slowly shunned the limelight more and more.
In 2013, she gave birth to her first daughter, Luka Violet Toni Candy, and her 2017, her second, Nova Skye Coco Candy, came along.
Holly keeps all her social media private, and no photos of her daughters are to be seen.
Her last acting credit is from 2015, giving her a solid six years out of the spotlight, apart from the occasional event attendance, usually alongside Nick.
There was a rumour heading around in late 2021 that Holly might be appearing on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, given her friend Dorit Kemsley is already a current cast member.
However, it seems an odd choice given how quietly she currently chooses to live her life.
While Holly doesn’t really seem to speak to media anymore, people were certain to ask Olympia if the rumours might be true.
“I have no idea, and I haven’t asked her about it,” Olympia confirmed. “I’ve had everyone message me and I still haven’t asked her.”
We’ll definitely be keeping our eyes peeled for Holly, just in case!
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