As I’ve said now a million times, for most of these college-admissions-scammer parents, it was about THEIR egos and privilege rather than their kids. That’s doubly so in the case of Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli. Their daughter Olivia Jade was clearly no kind of scholar or academic. She clearly hated school. She talked about how she was only interested in going to college to party and do college-related spon-con. But her parents were willing to spend $500K to scam her into USC through a massive amount of fraud. Olivia Jade knew that too. So in the end, I don’t have sympathy for anyone in that family, even if I don’t believe any part of the scam was Olivia Jade’s idea. Well, Entertainment Tonight has an exclusive about how Olivia Jade and her sister Bella are “suffering.” I mean… baby girls, cry me a f–king a river.
Olivia and Isabella “Bella” Giannulli are having a tough time following a college admissions bribery scam that both their parents are allegedly involved in.
“Bella and Olivia are suffering in their own ways from the fallout of their parents’ decisions,” a source tells ET more than a week after Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, were among the 50 people charged in the scam.
“Bella and Olivia have a very tightknit group of friends who have been there to support them,” the source says. “They’ve needed that support because they’re being attacked at every turn.” The source adds that, of the two girls, 20-year-old Bella “was far more invested in college and would loved to have completed USC.” Olivia, meanwhile, is “so embarrassed she doesn’t even want to go out.”
The 19-year-old YouTube vlogger is “really angry with her parents because she told them she did not want to go to college and she was pushed,” the source says. “She has been passionate about her career and wanted to work and was doing well but that wasn’t enough. Her parents said she would have to juggle college and her career. Now she’s devastated because everything she built implode before her eyes. She feels they ruined everything,” the source adds.
As I said, I think Olivia Jade made it perfectly clear that she didn’t want to go to college and her parents absolutely pushed her into it. They did everything (including fraud and bribery) to get their unwilling daughter into USC. And so yes, I feel a tiny little pinge of sympathy for Olivia Jade for having such egotistical parents who couldn’t deal with her own ideas of how her life could go. That being said, she didn’t have to pose for those crew photos, you know?? She f–king knew her parents were scammers. She was scamming too. Anyway, don’t worry: Olivia Jade is a wealthy, well-connected young white woman. She’ll figure it out. She’ll absolutely end up with a reality show and even more business deals.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Bella seems the be the only one who is quiet and not pushing her parents under the bus.
She is quietly letting the scandal die down.
I think that might be because Bella is not a public figure. She didn’t try to use her status for fame and put herself in the public eye. That’s why we hear about Olivia more, but she also has been silent since the scandal broke as far as I know.
She’s definitely the lower key sister but she did use her Mother’s status to try and start an acting career. Her only jobs were on Hallmark, with her Mother. They were on tv a lot being interviewed about her budding acting career too. Rather than studying Fine Arts and becoming more educated about her chosen profession ,she went the nepotism route and it showed in her sad lack of talent. You’re right that she’s certainly not as public as Olivia though. She’s been keeping her head down amidst all of this mess, while Olivia clearly wants everyone to know she’s mad at her parents. The thing is that they both knew they didn’t have the grades to get into USC and they both knew that they had never been on any sort of rowing team, yet were accepted based on their supposed stellar crew performance.They both posed for the fake, staged rowing photos. Bella seems to have the decency to be embarrassed, while Olivia seems to feel like she’s a victim.
Does anyone else think she had a nose job? It seems very small for her other features…
I thought so too! But then I saw pics of her dad and it seems they have the same nose. But maybe they went to the same plastic surgeon? I can’t be sure.
It’s plastic surgery. That type of nose doesn’t exist on an adult in real life.
Didn’t notice it was small but small noses are such a common plastic surgery choice theses days. I’m mildly disturbed about this but I can’t put my finger on why
because it looks childish – literally – children have proportionally smaller noses vs the size of their face.
I’d argue it’s also insidiously racist. It emphasizes a cultural preference for Caucasian features like slimmer noses, rather than the broader nasal structures more commonly seen among people with non-white heritage.
It’s obvious that she has, and they took too much away. Way too tiny and not flattering at all. Overdone.
It looks the same as when she was a kid, her face just got bigger around it. It has that too-small look, but I don’t think she has actually had a nose job.
Of course she had a nose job. They ALL get nose jobs. It’s like, the standard 16th birthday present for every girl in Hollywood.
Of course she did!
I mean … she’s not entirely wrong. just glossing over her complicity.
This, exactly.
Agreed. If Ivanka is Complicit Barbie, Olivia is Complicit Skipper.
LOL!
It seems these two girls parents “ruined everything” early in development. Both girls grew into “basic” children of the richNfamous, destined to a life of dilettante ennui. Perhaps the Jade girl perfected the Kadashianification method for “self made” billionaireNess, but ORLY? What a tired BS plastic surgery existence. Yawn. I suppose the parents woke up and FORCED too much substance too late in the game. Or, did the little Veruka Salt twins demand: ” DAHdee, I want a college life!”? So I agree- the parents “ruined everything”, likely from the first silver spoon, through the teen nose jobs right on through to Varsity Blues!
She chose to participate. She was 18 and was making money, and could have said no. She also bragged about wanting the college party experience.
Nope, not buying this.
Presumably they bribed their kids to get them to go along with the scam and go to college. I still can’t get over how narcissistic Lori and Mossimo are. They got their underage kids to commit a crime to satisfy their egos.
I dunno. I actually do have a bit of sympathy for her. I work will college students and 18 is still very young in many families. A lot of students I see are still very much under their parents thumbs at 18-21. Especially at 17 when you are applying to college… I mean, yes, she was absolutely complicit. But it’s also super hard to say “no” to your parents, at least in a lot of families. That’s a lot of pressure.
So, I mean, it’s a teeny-tiny violin, but I’m not going to completely crap on her. I hope she’s able to grow from this and move on.
@millenial I agree with you. I think it is super hard to say “no” to your parents at that age. Plus, those stupid parents put their teenagers in a position where they had to be morally superior to their own parents and potentially school their parents on what is right and what is wrong. And that’s hard to deal with as a teen no matter if you are wealthy or not. I don’t think Olivia and her sister are victims but most of the blame should be placed on parents.
It’s hard to feel sorry for an uber wealthy white kid, so yes it’s the tiniest violin from me too. I feel sorry for the older girl a tiny bit more though, as she seemed to like college, and she may have gotten in just for being a rich white student with a celebrity mom anyway. I read an article about which kids knew and which didn’t interesting read. Believe it or not these girls were in the not sure category. Felicity Hoffman’s daughter was in the didn’t know category. They seemed to think Olivia Jade should have realized, even if she wasn’t told. Her applications was filled out by others, and her high school college counselor was talking about her sister getting in on a crew admittance and she didn’t know she rowed. So even though she probably was like I don’t care about this it is just what my parents are doing, she had to realize this was wrong though. The older girl may not have known as the crew coach didn’t send the regular recruiting emails to her. Plus, they only took pictures of the girls on rowing machines. I mean she could have thought it was her family pimping something else I guess. Imagine living life like this it’s so superficial, and for that I feel sorry for them. These kids never really had a chance to be anything else.
I agree @Lucy2 She’s probably mad because people now know she probably didn’t achieve anything without her parents buying it for her. I posted the story in a comment a few days ago but she didn’t seem to have any problems with fraudulently “winning” some game show, including re-shooting scenes & the end after someone else beat her
They’re young. If your parents, who are your bedrock, mess up your life like this, it is traumatic. I know they’re from privilege. Mental health and life though is hard enough without piling on, especially in this case.
She didn’t seem to mind being complicit when it helping her get college sponsorships and advertising deals. *shrugs* Let her learn the hard lesson now when she has years to rebuild her life: if you exploit something knowingly and publicly for profit, don’t be surprised if you get caught up in the blowback when it’s uncovered.
On top of everything, Veruka Salt has zero compassion for her parents facing jail time. Jeez, can’t they bribe someone to take the interviews for her, and maybe, show ONE iota of compassion and/or remorse??!!
She may not have originally wanted to go to college, but I’m sure she went willingly when she realized her brand would profit from it. Which it did.
Exactly. She made a lot of money off of being a “student”. Also, her YouTube career and popularity started because her mom and dad are famous names. Who is she kidding?
She’s another “self-made” one. Ugh.
Okay. Surprisingly, I do feel sympathy for her. Yes, she chose to participate in some of this scam, but how much of a choice did she have when her parents were making her do it? Other than leaving the family entirely, it didn’t seem like she had much of an out. This is a tough and confusing time in a person’s life — I’m sure she trusted her parents were doing what was in her best interest.
Seems like she had a good thing going with her makeup tutorials and products at Sephora. I think this is a good wider lesson that not all kids are meant for college, and that doesn’t make them bad or stupid, it just means they have skills that don’t require a college degree. It’s so frowned upon whenever kids want to go into a trade instead of a full four-year or more degree, and that’s such nonsense. She could’ve been really successful with the skills she had, but her parents wanted more from her. Now they’ve ruined any opportunities she had for the foreseeable future.
I also wonder if there was some implied financial punishment if she didn’t go? Like ok you don’t have to go to college but you’re on your own then. She was an influencer and probably making good money, but isn’t her dad like bananas rich? Maybe she didn’t want a step down in her lifestyle.
I know what you mean, and I agree. I hear a little of my own situation in this. My parents also absolutely insisted that I go to college even though I wasn’t interested. So I went because really, what else was I going to do? Yes, I was 18, but I had little to no job experience and a high school diploma. I had been raised to believe that it was impossible to support yourself without a college degree, so even though I was legally an adult the idea of abandoning my family and trying to strike out on my own was overwhelming. I felt like I had no choice but to do what my family wanted because I didn’t think I could take care of myself. My parents had me convinced that without a degree I would literally end up homeless. Eventually I ended up dropping out and it was a huge waste of time and money on everyone’s part, but at least it helped me see that I had other options.
Do I think she’s an entitled brat? Yep. But she wasn’t legally an adult when her parents probably forced her to pose for those crew pictures, and she probably didn’t feel like she had a choice. This is a kid who’s always existed in the incredibly protective bubble her parents have created for her. The idea of abandoning her gravy train and striking out on her own is probably overwhelming to her, too. And that’s her parents’ fault, not hers.
Same experience- tinyfencer. I ended up taking a program I actually liked after dropping out, and I got a job before even graduating from it. But it’s a lot easier said than done to defy your family when what they’re asking for is for you to ‘better yourself’.
I actually agree with you. It’s a lot to expect an teenager to have the backbone and moral authority to say NO to their parents. And remember the scam would have happened her junior or senior year in high school which is a super stressful time for kids with hormones running rampant. Most kids that age would not have the maturity to say, “hey, I’m robbing a more well qualified student of this space, this is wrong”. ESPECIALLY a kid raised by these status obsessed parents who I have NO doubt both financially and emotionally blackmailed the girls with “you go to college or ELSE” It’s the parents who are absolutely abysmal people for putting their children in that situation in the first place. Garbage people who deserve jail-but probably wont get it.
I remember hearing a line from a movie that was playing in a waiting room. I think it was a Pitch Perfect movie where the girl said, in my home my dad’s saying is, if at first you don’t succeed, pack your bags. I know it was a movie, but I thought that was a ghastly pressure to be raised under.
Well, at least she has the sense to be embarrassed She’s young enough that you can turn around her personality. The parents are probably fixed in their ways.
I don’t think she should have participated in the cheating, of course, but I wonder if they’re so used to seeing this sort of thing n their world that maybe it didn’t strike her as wrong? It’s the fallout from the scandal that will teach her what her parents wouldn’t.
The only bit of sympathy i hold for that girl is in that she is right—she was forced by her parents to go to college. However, just as this article points out, Olivia (and her sister) participated in the scam, and not only that but she also reaped the rewards of her “student image” to gain promotional deals and sponsorships.
She was shamelessly posing as a perfect student, having an intagramable perfect student life, and making money of that even though she knew she didn’t deserve to be in that school, helped scam her way in, and wasn’t attending classes and didn’t care about doing well in school at all. I guess some people might call that smart, but i call it irresponsible, given that i assume the majority of her audience are young girls.
So yeah if she’s embarrassed she should be. But not just for the humiliation her parents caused her, but of her own actions as well.
Also consider that she likely was hiring others to do her work in college. She did not seem to have the motivation or the skills to be able to handle the college level work plus all that she was doing for her business. Few people would, and she actively hated school and didn’t want to go to college in the first place.
I don’t know if the same is true for her older sister. She apparently was not doing anything but attending school and so it’s possible she was doing all her own work. But it may not be fear of bullying that is keeping Olivia Jade from returning to that school. The investigations by the school may turn up more. And other students very likely know about how she was actually handling the college workload, and this might just be the last straw.
I don’t know – I do feel bad for these girls, and the children of any parent who doesn’t know when to stop pushing. Sure these two, and especially Olivia, is a particularly irritating character (from what I’ve seen), but they were children who went along with what their parents wanted. Unless SHE went to her parents asking for them to orchestrate this scam (which she didn’t) I can’t really hold her responsible. All blame, from me, lies with the parents. They’re supposed to teach their children to follow the rules, not coerce them into breaking the law. I’d imagine she was told ‘go to college or you’re being cut off’ or some version of that. Obviously she went along with it – and as an adult she has to deal with the consequences of her actions – but I do feel bad for her.
I work at a University and we generally can tell which kid has pushy parents within a week or two of knowing them. In some cases you see the students personalities change totally from their first year to second year, when they start to come out of their parent’s shadows and become themselves. A lot of these kids have parents that are wealthy/powerful and whoforget that they are their kid’s parents and not their line managers. Some kids are just assholes, but most are victims of their parents bs.
I’m with Kaiser. Boo hoo hoo. I’m over here just drowning in crocodile tears for these girls who are still white, wealthy, and privileged.
And yes, I think the younger one has definitely had a nose job
Exactly. And, OJ at least, seems to have had enough of her own money to say ‘no’ and move out…go and live her own life.
I agree — oh Boo hoo. Like her life is ruined at 18. Her parents money will shield her for the REST.OF.HER.LIFE. She could literally sit on the couch forever, and still not be homeless, still not go hungry, still not want for anything. . .Let’s be real here.
She’s very young. Most rich kids I knew at that age their parents really did control a lot. People don’t get that rich by just doing whatever, they plan and decide things and for their kids too. Yeah they kind of did ruin everything by insisting on this university/bribe path which she didn’t want.
She was a minor when her parents did this. I don’t blame her at all.
We have a penchant to put blame on young women, there’s this urge to punish them for being selfish or immature. When that’s kinda what teenagers are. Yes, she could be better, but everything Olivia Jade is at this point is a product of her parents and they should face the bulk, if not all, the criticism.
She wanted to live her insta famous life, which while not my cup of tea is totally her choice. She by all accounts is successful and enjoyed that life. Her parents are the ones who pushed her into this and another more deserving student out.
Case, I agree. I surprisingly have a little bit of sympathy for Olivia Jade. Sure, she’s an entitled twit. But she also has a clearly narcissistic mom. And that is tough. As someone who grew up with a narcissistic mom, placating a parent is sometimes the easiest strategy for coping. Only later did I develop better strategies. Now I just feel fortunate she never bullied me into doing something illegal or outrageous. I’d like to think I’d say no, but who knows?
I find it disgusting that she used her college experience to get her instagram sponsors like Amazon and Sephora—and I blame the sponsors a lot. How gross is the company that thinks this is okay?
And all the scandal has done is almost double her followers. As soon as it dies down she will be back shilling with a redemption story. Sponsors paying “instagram stars” is a big part of the problem. Look at Fyre Festival.
Oh I’m sure she’s hella pissed. I’m sure she trusted her parents to have her best interest in mind. That’s their job, especially when you’re still young and navigating stuff. She probably knew what they were doing was shady, but I think she probably trusted her parents that it wouldn’t ruin her life and her career. I know she’s white, and rich, and will be fine… but her reputation has taken a huge hit. It just has.
I don’t care. This shows perfectly that some of these influencers have nothing to fall back on once their Instagram or Youtube days are over. She didn’t care about education because she was pretty enough (in a plain way) to pose with stupid products no-one needs and make money off of that. For now, this is over.
I have no sympathy. If her parents’s pressure want enough to make her pay attention in school so that they wouldn’t need to engage in this whole shit, then I don’t understand how she can imply that she couldn’t resist the pressure to go to college if she didn’t want to.
I can’t feel sorry for her. She seems like the kind of entitled kid who is never happy or satisfied or thankful for anything anyone does for her. College improved her brand, but she is probably too dim to see that. And now that they’ve been caught, she is refusing to take responsibility for her part in the fraud. Boo hoo.
If she was completely against the plan, why did she go along with it and play “college-student-getting-others-to-buy-things”? She was supposedly already known and making money (and over 18), so she could have moved out and made her own way.
If the scandal had not erupted, chances are she’d be fine with keeping up the apparent ruse and making money from it.
there’s a difference in parents pressuring you to go to college( to the point it feels like force), and participating in an illegal scam. Posing for pics makes you a participant and makes it so you cannot claim ignorance.
Even though ignorance isn’t a legal defense, it does help in the court of public opinion.
I don’t have sympathy for anyone in this. Olivia may feel inadequate in college courses because she failed to attend high school regularly, and that’s her and her parents fault. She has squandered all opportunities that didn’t end in a future of Real hollywood faux reality tv. Zero respect or sympathy for an over privileged princess that is just now living in the real world reality of lost income and reality anxieties.
I tried to google this but can’t find a thing…someone please tell me what this girl was majoring in??? I find it hard to believe she was doing her own work in college, especially when she said she didn’t even want to be there.
Just puttin this here – anyone remember Lori from her Jody and Preacher days on Edge of Night? She played spunky innocence so well …
Yep. I loved her on Edge of Night.
“Everything she built” is ruined? Oh please cry me a river!
she’s what 18? I don’t think she has any responsibility in this. It was not her idea, not her whiches and her parents made the decision, and pushed her. At 18, living with and from your parents, it is really hard for most kid to say no to direct orders; instruction/ guilt trip. I went to law school, even thou I hated hated it, because it was my parents « I know best what’s good for you » choice. Then one day I grew up and said stop. And was literally floored when they just said ok.
Plus, do you imagine how she must have felt, and feel? The way they acted, it screams that she’s not enough, not good enough, can’t make it, that they don’t believe in her, are ashamed of her. And now, the whole world knows it. It’s the kind of casual cruelty that destroys self-confidence.
It didn’t occur to me to feel bad for Olivia because clearly she’s the worst, but her parents made her the worst. She can’t blame her parents for the kind person she is forever, but she’s still young enough I think to feel bad for her about how she was raised. She might have been technically an adult when her parents broke the law to get her into that college, but they still manipulated her into that situation. I argue that she could not have said, “No, this is wrong,” because her parents did not teach her right from wrong, clearly.
It’s been pretty well established that her parents had some rather serious flaws as parents. She hardly showed up for high school and I’m sure the parents were notified if they hadn’t already persuaded the school to excuse those absences for whatever reason. The parents must have been pulling strings back then also to keep her in school and to make sure she got grades good enough to graduate. Very likely they paid for other people (especially “tutors”) to do her work in high school. They might have been paying bribes as well.
The corruption we see in the college application scandal didn’t just suddenly appear out of nowhere. At least in Olivia’s case, corruption was occurring at the high school level as well because otherwise she simply would not have graduated considering what we know of her history. And Olivia Jade knows that. She undoubtedly thinks of it all as completely normal and justified and is angry that others do not share that opinion.
Oh honey, you didn’t ‘build’ anything, you bought a prettier face and cashed in on your parents’ connections. You get paid to get your picture taken with things. Bless your heart.
Yep no one forced her to pose for those faux team photos so sorry I have no sympathy for Scammer Barbie.
hate to say it but she has a point. if she really did want to skip or defer college to focus on her influencer work (not going to get into the legitimacy of that when she is making money) and her parents pushed her into college because it fit THEIR vision of what her life should be i can have some sympathy for her, because now she has nothing and her parents ARE to blame. seems like they wanted the prestige of a daughter not only in college but at a TOP college when she maybe didn’t want to attend college at all. you have to let your kids make their own choices and deal with whatever consequences there are. sounds like olivia should’ve stood up to her parents and refused to take part in that photo shoot on the rowing machine. that’s IF she really didn’t want college and was just going along with it to please her parents. if not, well, she deserves it all.
I agree that 4 year college is not right for everyone and there should be no stigma attached to kids who want to pursue other forms of education/careers/passions. But a good parent should be modelling/instilling intellectual curiosity, a sense of compassion and integrity and have a responsibility to engage their kids in the issues facing not just rich, white folk but everyone. The only real way to instill this in our kids is to model it! We need to contribute to the common good with our money, our time, the ballot box and by understanding the issues. Certainly adolescents are by nature a self-absorbed bunch but this crew seems to be especially vapid. Sure, it’s cool to be an “influencer” on a style vlog or whatever, but is this the best we can do, people? Can’t we have fun on the blogs while we still are marching on the streets and helping the elderly. I mean I guess the Loughlin/Giannullis could be doing that, but somehow I think not. Be better, humans. Or be better humans.
“she didn’t have to pose for those crew photos”
I mean…I’m not saying feel sorry for her or anything. But given the fact that her parents were willing to run an expensive scam, I have to wonder what her options really are? She was a minor, and she was living under her parents’ roof. Yeah, she’s making money off of her influencer thing, but chances are she was still really dependent on her parents. And they seem like the sort of people who’d throw an absolute fit if their kids ever stood up for themselves too. “You live in MY house, under MY roof, and you wear clothes that I BOUGHT for YOU, with MY money, and you eat MY food, and if you think you can stop me from wasting MY MONEY on a scam to get you into school to fulfill MY EGO, then you have another thing coming young lady!!!!!!”
Why the sympathy and well-wishes for Olivia? Even in the blogging world she has nothing to offer other than being the daughter to a Full House actress. This girl knew what was going on, and even if she hated the academic aspects of schools, she probably felt smug and proud that she was waist-deep in social activities with board members, etc (ex/ yacht).
I hope they all suffer their due consequences. We need a different narrative in this planet we live in.
….and who didn’t see that coming!