(LOS ANGELES) — Just weeks after actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, reported to prison for their roles in the so-called “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal, their daughter, Olivia Jade Giannulli, is speaking out about what happened.
In an interview with Facebook Watch’s Red Table Talk hosts Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith, and Adrienne Banfield-Norris, the 21-year-old admitted her life of privilege made her naive to the ramifications of her parents’ actions.
For her part, Banfield-Norris made it plain she was against the appearance. You know, I fought it tooth and nail,” she commented. “I just found it really ironic that she chose three Black women to reach out to for her redemption story. I feel like here we are, [a] white woman coming to Black women for support when we don’t get the same from them.” She added, “It’s…bothersome to me on so many levels. Her being here is the epitome of white privilege to me.”
Giannulli later said of her situation, “I don’t deserve pity. We messed up.”
“I took my privilege and all my blessings for granted and I never thought anything of it,” Giannulli added. “That’s what really rocked me. I was like…You need to talk about this….and then you need to move forward and do better."”
After pleading guilty to conspiracy charges earlier this year, Loughlin, 56, began her two-month jail in late October. Her husband, 57, began serving his five-month sentence on Nov. 19.
The couple was accused of paying $500,000 to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California by fraudulently having them added as crew team recruits.
“They didn’t really have much to say except, like, ‘I’m so sorry. I really messed up in trying to give the best to you and [your] sister [22-year-old Isabella],"” Giannulli said.
“But they wanted to give it to us a little too much,” she added.
“…I’m not gonna judge them for a mistake they made,” she said. “And although it’s a big one, they’re gonna pay the price for it.”
Giannulli said she learned of the charges against her parents during spring break, and she never returned to USC.
“I shouldn’t have been there in the first place, clearly, so there was no point in me trying to go back,” she said.
By Good Morning AmericaCopyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
