Actor Admits His Kiss With 15-Year-Old Actress in 2001 ‘Felt Wrong’

Austin Nichols has some regrets with one of his on-screen roles.

The One Tree Hill actor admitted he was “too old” to be smooching Mary-Kate Olsen in the 2001 film Holiday in the Sun.

The film, which was a direct-to-DVD rom-com adventure flick, starred Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen taking a vacation to the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas. In the film, the two girls are wooed by Nichols’ character and Ben Easter’s character. (Notably, Megan Fox appears as the twins’ rival, in her first film role.)

Nichols appeared on the Drama Queens podcast Monday where he discussed how One Tree Hill and Holiday in the Sun had a “similar” audience. Despite that, however, giving Olsen an on-screen kiss didn’t feel right to him.

“I was definitely nervous because Mary-Kate was 15, and I was, I think, 18 or 19, or maybe even 20. I don’t remember, but I was too old,” he explained. “And it felt weird, and it felt wrong.”

He continued on the topic, saying “And I looked very young, so watching the movie, I don’t think you notice. I’m real tall and skinny and nerdy. But I don’t think you can tell there’s a big age difference. But from my brain, I was like, ‘She’s 15. This is weird.’”

It’s not the first time Nichols has appeared on the podcast. A February 2024 episode featured a deep dive on his One Tree Hill character Julian Baker, where he discussed that his podcast appearance was at least partly because he used to date One Tree Hill star Sophia Bush, one of the hosts of the podcast. The two dated until the show’s end in 2012, and are still on good terms.