Last week, Olivia Jade Giannulli made a triumphant return to YouTube. Before Operation Varsity Blues and her parents’ faith-based crime spree, Olivia was some kind of hybrid Instagram influencer/model/endorser. Her YouTube channel was very popular, and I’m just realizing now that Olivia is sort of VSCO Girl too. Anyway, after her parents got arrested, Olivia stopped making YouTube videos and she barely posted anything on social media. But she came back last week with this video:
I didn’t write about this at the time because I could barely get through 30 seconds. It’s a brief enough video, but lord, this girl is vapid. But is this harmless video hiding something sinister? LOL, according to Us Weekly, the answer is YES. Apparently, Lori Loughlin is freaking out about Olivia Jade going back to YouTube:
Olivia Jade Giannulli’s bold decision to return to YouTube amid the college admissions scandal isn’t going so well at home, multiple sources exclusively reveal in the new issue of Us Weekly. According to a source, Lori Loughlin explicitly instructed her daughter to stay off social media until well after she and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, learn their fate at their upcoming trial. The pair were charged in March with fraud, money laundering and bribery for allegedly paying $500,000 in bribes to get Olivia and her older sister, Isabella, 21, into the prestigious University of Southern California by having them falsely designated as recruits for the crew team.
“Lori was very clear in telling Olivia to remain quiet and not do anything controversial,” says the source. But it seems Olivia, 20, had “had enough” of not being able to speak her mind — and did something about it.
Olivia posted her first video on YouTube on December 1, after an eight-month hiatus. “I actually really, really miss it,” she told her almost two million YouTube subscribers. “I genuinely miss filming. I feel like a huge part of me is just not the same because this is something that I’m really passionate about. It’s something I really like to do.”
Now, the source says, the fractured family is at odds. “Olivia’s YouTube video was a big betrayal,” says the source. “And cracks in the family are starting to show.”
Still, Olivia and the Fuller House alum, 55, are slowly mending their relationship. “There were major tensions between Olivia and Lori when the scandal first broke,” says an insider, but once she met with lawyers, she got a better understanding of what her parents were going through. “She feels bad for them and has been spending more time at home.”
Honestly, Olivia’s actions after her parents’ arrests just proved how dumb she really is. She could have maximized the exposure and parlayed the scandal into a reality show, interviews and other endorsements. Instead, she holed up when everyone was interested in her. I’ve said this before, but it’s like Olivia thought she was “too good” to go the Kardashian route. Heads up, Olivia: you WISH you could be a Kardashian-Jenner. At least they know how to turn scandal into paychecks. Anyway, I don’t think Olivia’s video was really a betrayal or anything. I think Lori is an idiot too, and that’s why all of this sh-t has gotten so complicated for the family.
Photos courtesy of Instagram, WENN, cover courtesy of Us Weekly.
I don’t know much about this girl, but her parents have made her look good by comparison. I’d actually be inclined to believe it was all their fault had Olivia not done that fake crew team photo shoot. Lori definitely has bigger things to worry about than a dumb YouTube video.
Not necessarily. Their attorney may have advised the entire family to go radio silent until after the hearing. Her video could be seen as a sign disrespect to the court and their complete inability to show remorse for their alleged crimes. The court would want to see that they learned from this experience; look at how Felicity Huffman conducted herself.
And, the daughters knew that something was not quite right. Do you mean to tell me that they didn’t think it was wrong to dress up in crew uniforms and pose – and not be on the team? They were complicit to some extent.
No, they were for SURE complicit, hence “were it not for”. Radio silence is a reasonable request only if parents are coherent and in control of their family. My point – the parents are so inept I struggle to find real fault with the children.
I mean from a business perspective she should have maximized it, but from a human level (that human being me) I’m glad she was hiding. They should be embarrassed, I know they aren’t, and ashamed (I know) and we should not give them reality shows.
So while it wasn’t the best plan I’m thrilled she went away I just can’t with these people.
Good point, Becklu. Most celebrities are real a-holes when breaking the law. They love to rub it in your face. Lindsay Lohan breaking probation half a hundred times, H Weinstein leaving home without his monitor on, singers flying to another country to perform and getting away with it while on probation, James Franco’s shady as hell actions, all blatant and they all get away with it. At least these girls managed to not show their faces or shove them in ours, for a decent length of time. (wish they’d stay away)
They should be hiding, but they aren’t hiding like you or I would out of shame. It’s strategic. The lawyers told them to do it. Remember her first walk into court? She thought she’d be doing interviews to sway the public. The lawyers told her not to, so she feeds her side to People Magazine. Olivia talking shows the world that the Giannullis can’t control their kids, and controlling your adult children is part of the evangelical way. Olivia is an adult. She can do what she wants. She should have called Kendall and her mom if this is what she wanted to do.
Idiots…
This. With Kim’s sex tape, we could say the only one who was damaged by that was actually her, she wasn’t doing anything illegal. That Olivia would turn this scandal into her platform to fame sounds… really gross, tbh. Seeing a rich family engaging in illegal activities and using that attention to become even richer… things like that make me sincerely ashamed of being American, that we live in a country where things like that aren’t unthinkable.
Not just a human perspective, but also legal strategy. This isn’t a Kardashian-like scandal. Her parents are facing federal criminal charges. Until there is a legal resolution, the only smart thing for her to do is to keep a low public profile.
The prosecutors will absolutely watch everything she posts. She may say something without even realizing it that could strengthen the charges against her parents, lead to new charges, or even lead to charges against her.
After her parents trial is over, is one thing, but while everything is still pending, this is a stupid, risky move.
I don’t think she believes she’s better than them, I think she’d love to be at their level. But I wish more people did believe that, they truly need to get out of Hollywood. I think she did the right thing by hiding out first, people would have mocked the absolute crap out of her show.
I’m interested in what daddy thinks about this. Nothing from him over his eldest daughter’s ‘betrayal?’
Olivia’s actions would be better described as disobedient rather than betrayal wouldn’t they? I just don’t see where betrayal comes in, and if her parents do feel that way, well, they raised her. I also don’t see OJ traipsing to prison once a week to see her parental units. Without knowing any of them, it seems like the younger daughter will feel her parents imprisonment more. You’re used to having your parents to turn to for a million different things and they just aren’t going to be there.
@LadyD: Olivia is actually the youngest.
Thank you, Rose. I thought she was younger.
@LadyD: You’re welcome! I’m slightly ashamed of myself for knowing this much about this horrible family.
All I’m seeing is too much plastic surgery and air, and word salad. That’s all.
So like, I am also, like, um, SUPER mad at OJ for like, literally, making the dumbest video, like, ever you guys.
Good LORD. People seriously follow this person.
wait, her “brand” is OJ? Kids these days….!!!!!
Also, no one is keeping her from filming ground-breaking documentaries. But girlfriend only wants to film HERSELF.
I hate that I know this but yeah, she purposely calls herself OJ and has OJ letter decorations and stuff in the background of her videos/photos.
To be fair, she’s too young and not-bright to know who OJ Simpson is.
Didn’t she do a second video with her boobs practically falling out of her low cut shirt? Pics were splashed all over I think The Fail. The girl is simply addicted to and obsessed with the attention and I’m sure being away was torture for her. Much more torturous than her parents being locked up for a couple of years is going to be. Vapid doesn’t even begin to describe it. Congratulations, Lori. This is what you raised.
@ Other Renee : I am amazed that people who have been professionally successful through hard work like Loughlin don’t seem to demand this of their kids. Loughlin is an average actress with above average looks but hustled for decades to promote her “brand” (Aunt Becky-ish) and that was why she was successful. And then she tells her kids that it’s ok mom and dad to buy their way into a top college as opposed to making them work for success. I don’t get it.
Stupid people do stupid things…
The thing I most hate about this is… does this girl even need or care about college? I remember reading she never even cared. Wouldn’t it have been better for her mom to land her some modeling and acting gigs to expand upon this youtuber platform? We talk plenty of shit about nepo actors and models but hey, that’s not illegal.
It is hilarious and ironic if her parents ever expected her to actually graduate from USC. It was clearly never going to happen. I don’t know about the other sister, maybe she is marginally more scholarly than this one.
I mean, I saw some valid ones manage to graduate from UVA. With the right major (psychology, anthropology, or soc), and cheating, it can’t be that hard.
University these days has been bastardized to the point of just being a rich kids trophy.
Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Seriously Lori? You and your husband raised this dumb dumb. You had all the money in the world to put towards tutors and all the other advantages that come with wealth and this is how she turned out. You have no one to blame but yourselves at this point.
They should be endorsing backpacks and calculators.
Lol. Now that would be something…
Should have taken a deal! Their arrogance is going to translate into substantial prison time. It didn’t have to be this way. Sheesh. Ungrateful daughter much?
I disagree about what she should have done after the scandal. It’s a much different time and the torrent of harassment that she would have faced would have been deafening. Kim Kardashian didn’t commit/assist in a crime and she blew up only a year after twitter’s founding. When her sex tape was released, 400k tweets was the record for a quarter. Now 500 million tweets is the daily average.
I don’t think Olivia Jade could have parleyed this into anything more than an increased security bill and more therapy.
Good god that that was painful. A lesson in how to say the same thing over and over in 50 different ways. She is so young and already has that glazed over, character free face. The Kendall face.
From my perspective, documenting her parents’ scandal on Youtube is the stupidest thing this girl could do not the smartest.. First of all she’s not allowed to talk about it due to legal reasons most likely. Any lawyer would have told Olivia and her sister to shut the eff up. Plus there is circumstantial evidence that Olivia and her sister knew what their parents were up to and there is a still a chance they could be charged, howevef small. They’d be inserting themselves by talking about the scandal on social media. So selling the story for endorsement deals and doing interviews would have been the dumbest thing she could do. And the backlash would have caused brands not to partner with her, no brand wants to be associated to the scandal and be accused of being okay with bribery. As long as she sticks to makeup and clothing videos she’s good.
10-20 years from now if she wants to write a tell all I say go for it.
I totally hate watched the OJ video on youtube.
She seems really self absorbed and shallow beyond belief. Some people cannot live their life offline anymore. She is addicted to social media. Not even the threat of prison time for her parents can stop her addiction to social media. Such a sad commentary on our society.
If she loved filming as much as she claims, she would be willing to take her passion behind the camera as a director, producer, writer, marketer, editor, stylist for content creation. She isnt passionate about filming and creating content, she is passionate about herself. Me me me me. She is such a Narcissita
For second, just for one hot second…I thought Lori Loughlin’s PR team was actually trying to pin the blame on Olivia with this shit. But I guess if in the same breath you mention they’re already “mending fences”, then I guess not.
She doesn’t seem dumb here. She just seems like she enjoys Youtube more than an academic life. Even some kids in school these days seem like this. I think she’s just more typical of someone who grew up in a digital era. I’ve seen economics majors show everything in a skimpy bikini on Instagram ….in every single photo. I don’t get it….but maybe that’s 21st century life now.
Her parents aren’t smart though. I have no idea why her parents would expect her to have genetics they themselves don’t have. The smarts have to come from somewhere…
bold for her for not turning off the comments section tbh
I had fun reading the comments
But I think she should wait and then capitalize it when aunt becky goes to jail, youtube, reality show etc
fake some tears on yt and pretends to pick up her life while mom in jail
heck, hallmark probably even try to cast her
lmao
“Faith based crime spree” 🤣🤣🤣 I am d e a d.