Lori Loughlin was embroiled in controversy and sent to prison after committing wire fraud. After serving time for spending $500k in bribes in the college admissions scandal, Lori Loughlin has donated that amount and more in college tuition fees.
After Lori’s involvement in 2019’s college admissions scandal, she is trying to put the past behind her and make amends. Initially, Lori claimed she and her husband were innocent for months. But in 2020, Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli finally pled guilty, admitting that they had paid $500,000. They did this to make sure their daughters Olivia Jade and Bella Giannulli were admitted to the University of Southern California as members of the school’s rowing team.
Lori Loughlin paid to put more students through college after the scandal
Loughlin was subsequently sentenced to two months in prison for her role in the scandal. She paid a $150,000 fine and completed 100 hours of community service as well and is now serving two years of supervised release. According to US Weekly, Loughlin hopes that she’s “allowed to move on” as she returns to her first work project post-scandal. She will be returning to GAC Family’s When Hope Calls. A source close to Loughlin says that she feels like there is “this stigma attached to her by people who don’t want her to have any success.”
It’s now been reported that Loughlin will also be paying the entire four-year tuition fees for two unnamed students, a choice that was not court-ordered. According to Entertainment Tonight, the Full House star has “privately arranged to put two students through four years of college, and has paid their tuition and expenses totaling over $500,000. Lori has also continued her work with Project Angel Food. She is optimistic about her future and is hopeful she can move forward.”
The whole family is dealing with repercussions
Talking about the professional life, Lori is known to have previously worked in the Hallmark series When Calls the Heart. Hallmark recently made a shocking statement declaring that they will not be working with Loughlin now or at any point in the future. It was announced last month that Loughlin would appear as a guest star in the two-part premiere, When Calls the Heart: A County Christmas, which debuts on Dec.18.
Loughlins’ daughter, Olivia Jade, who is also a well-known YouTube personality, also spoke on her podcast recently about how life has been post-scandal.
“Literally right after we got off the stage, I called her,” Olivia Jade told reporters earlier this month of her mom. “She’s the biggest support ever. She’s really proud of me and I love her so much. She’s, like, my hero. So it’s really nice to know she’s watching and she’s really proud… Mama bear! She’s excited.”
About moving past the scandal, she said “for my certain situation [it’s] hard for me to get to that point of like, ‘It’s OK, Olivia, you didn’t know back then,” she says, noting that she previously didn’t know her parents were breaking the law to get her into school. “Then you obviously have so many people online being like, ‘You should have known. You should have done better. This shouldn’t have happened in the first place.’ And then you have people telling you, like, ‘Well, clearly you haven’t learned anything still.’”
Jade left USC in 2019 and says she feels like she has to “walk on eggshells when I talk just because I don’t want to say the wrong thing — and I want to make it clear to people listening that I’m not trying to victimize myself.” She further credits therapy for helping her cope with the situation and the judgment she’s been experiencing since the scandal.
Loughlin hasn’t forgotten about the scandal though. She has actually gone above and beyond what was required off her. After completing her required service hours at Project Angel Food, Loughlin continued to donate her time at the organization. In addition, Loughlin has completely funded the college education for two individuals at a cost of $500,000. This includes tuition and other related expenses. It is not known how she chose the students or what their names are.
For her part in the scandal, Olivia Jade posed on a rowing machine to make it look like she was an athletic recruit. She claims that she didn’t know at the time that her parents were doing anything illegal.
Even though the scandal was hard on Olivia Jade and Loughlin, the mother and daughter are still very close. Olivia Jade has been competing on Dancing with the Stars. She said she’s become a different person from this, and credits therapy with helping her cope.
Does it surprise you that Loughlin decided to pay for two students to go to college? Do you think she will be able to move on from this scandal?
