I know it feels like it’s been six years since the infamous “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal, but alas it was only LAST YEAR!
While Felicity Huffman served her prison time last year after admitting to a $15,000 bribe to improve her daughter’s SAT scores, Full House star Lori Loughlin and husband Mossimo Giannulli’s case was much more complicated.
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Both Loughlin and Giannulli admitted to paying William “Rick” Singer $500,000 to help get their two daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose, admitted to The University of Southern California. The millionaire parents pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges earlier this year.
Both Loughlin and Giannulli are currently serving their prison sentences, with Loughlin scheduled for release in a few weeks.
Now, youngest daughter Olivia Jade is speaking out for the first time in an interview on Jada Pinkett Smith’s Facebook show, *Red Table Talk*, which she hosts with her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Jones, and her daughter, Willow Smith.
“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,” the 21-year-old confessed.
“What happened was wrong and I think every single person in my family can look at it and be like that was messed up, that was a big mistake but I think what’s so important to me is to learn from the mistake. Not to be shamed and punished and never given a second chance… I’m 21.”
“I feel like I deserve a second chance to redeem myself to show I’ve grown,” she explained.
“On paper, it’s bad. It’s really bad. But I think what a lot of people don’t know is that my parents just came from a place of, ‘I love my kids, I just want to help my kids. Whatever is best for them,'” she explained.
“I think they thought it was normal.”
The popular beauty influencer confessed she didn’t understand the magnitude of the situation when the scandal first broke.
“When it first happened I didn’t look at it and say, ‘Oh my God like how dare we do this?’ I was like, ‘Why is everybody complaining? I was confused what we did.’ That’s embarrassing to admit.”
Olivia went on to explain that while she worked hard in high school, she didn’t deserve to be a student at USC.
“I really did care. I was also a very involved student. I think I put a lot of trust into a person that claimed their profession was college counseling and it led me in a wrong direction. It’s not to shift blame it’s just to explain that I wasn’t aware of what was going on.”
When Willow asked what the hardest part was for Oliva emotionally, the 21-year-old got visibly upset.
“I felt mostly like embarrassed and ashamed of everything that’s happened,” she replied.
“I really felt the most moved by the fact that we did all of this, and we’re so ignorant, and I feel a huge part of having privilege is not knowing you have privilege.”
“And so when it was happening it didn’t feel wrong.”
“I didn’t realize at the time that was privilege,” she continued.
“I didn’t put those two together. I was like, ‘Well, this is what everybody does, and my parents worked really hard and I don’t understand.’ But that’s not how it should be and unfortunately, that’s how it was, and I’m grateful for this situation to see that big change and that big difference in my own mind.”
She went on to say that the past year and a half made her reflect on how she is publicly perceived: “I felt very misunderstood… I’m not this bratty girl that doesn’t want to change anything.”
“Also, I understand why people are angry and I understand why people say hurtful things and I would too if I wasn’t in my boat. I think I had to go through the backlash and the stuff because when you read it you realize there’s some truth in it.”
“I understood that people were upset and angry and maybe it took me a little bit longer to understand what for, but man am I glad that I realized what for. Better late than never.”
Watch the full interview here .
