Lori Loughlin's daughter Olivia Jade sorry for admissions scandal

  • Published
Olivia Jade Giannulli and Lori LoughlinImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Lori Loughlin (right) was jailed for paying to get daughter Olivia Jade into a top university

Actress Lori Loughlin's daughter Olivia Jade Giannulli has apologised for her family's actions in the college admissions scandal.

Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli were jailed after paying $500,000 (£374,000) to get Olivia Jade and her sister into university.

Olivia Jade told Red Table Talk, external she wanted to "learn from the mistake".

"I think what was important was for me to come here and say, 'I'm sorry. I acknowledge what was wrong,'" she said.

The 21-year-old gave her first interview to the Facebook Watch show, hosted by actress Jada Pinkett Smith, her mother Adrienne Banfield-Jones and her daughter Willow Smith.

What was the college admissions scandal?

Dozens of prominent people including Loughlin, her husband and Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman have been prosecuted for their roles in the scandal. More than 30 well-off parents were found to be paying substantial bribes to get their children into elite universities.

Loughlin, best known for playing Aunt Becky on sitcom Full House, admitted paying to get places for Olivia Jade and her 22-year-old sister Isabella.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Actress Felicity Huffman served 11 days in jail for her part in the admissions scandal

Olivia Jade, who is a social media influencer, lost brand deals and left the University of Southern California following the controversy.

Loughlin, 56, started a two-month sentence at a California prison in October and is due for release within weeks. Her husband, 57, a fashion designer, began his five-month sentence last month.

Olivia Jade said she had been unable to speak to her parents due to quarantine restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

What else did Olivia Jade say?

She said she did not initially realise her parents were breaking the law because she knew of other children whose parents had done the same thing.

"When all this first happened and it became public I remember thinking, how are people mad about this? It sounds so silly, but in the bubble that I grew up in, a lot of kids' parents were donating to schools," she explained.

"It's not fair and it's not right but it was happening." She added that she now feels embarrassed that she didn't realise at the time she had grown up as part of a privileged bubble.

Media caption,

Students react to cheating scam: "This is how we got into an elite college"

Apologising for her family's part in the scandal, she said: "I'm not trying to victimise myself. I don't want pity. I don't deserve pity.

"We messed up. I just want a second chance to be like, 'I recognise I messed up.' And for so long I wasn't able to talk about this because of the legalities behind it.

"What's so important to me is to learn from the mistake, not to be shamed and punished and never given a second chance."

She added: "It's been hard. For anybody, no matter what the situation is, you don't want to see your parents go to prison, but also I think it's necessary for us to move on and move forward."

Olivia Jade said she had been working with disadvantaged schoolchildren in Los Angeles since the controversy, adding: "I understand that I, just based off my skin colour, I already had my foot in the door and I was already ahead of everybody else.

"I can recognise that going forward. I do want to do stuff to change that and to help that."

Follow us on Facebook, external, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, external. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk, external.