AyoD.dOT

Olivia Jade was 19 when federal investigators uncovered that her famous parents had paid $500,000 to get her and her sister into USC as fake rowing recruits. Neither girl was on a rowing team. Olivia found out about the scandal while partying with friends in Mexico, and both of her parents eventually went to PRISON. Her mother was Full House actress Lori Loughlin. Her father was fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli. They had secretly paid a college admissions consultant to help get their daughters into the University of Southern California. The scheme involved presenting the girls as athletic recruits, including staged rowing-related photographs, even though they didn't compete in the sport. Meanwhile, Olivia was running a successful YouTube beauty channel. Before the scandal, she'd publicly said she cared more about college parties than school. Then, in March 2019, everything collapsed. Olivia was on spring break in Cabo San Lucas when someone called asking if she'd spoken to her mother. She searched her mom's name online and discovered the federal investigation. She was sitting with friends and knew they were about to find out too. "I remember just freezing and feeling so ashamed." She returned home and never went back to USC. Her parents eventually pleaded guilty. Her mother received 2 months in prison, and her father received 5 months. In the interview featured below, Olivia sits with Jada Pinkett Smith's family while both parents are serving their sentences. She admits that when the scandal first became public, she couldn't understand why people were angry. Wealthy families around her had always donated money to schools. Then Jada's mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, challenges her decision to come to 3 Black women to tell her redemption story. Olivia says she doesn't deserve pity and acknowledges how privileged her upbringing was. The girl whose parents spent $500,000 to manufacture a college sports career ended up leaving the university altogether. And her first major interview about it took place while both parents were behind bars.