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Olivia Jade and Isabella Giannulli may have been happy attending state universities. Or perhaps the sisters would have preferred not going to college at all and been perfectly satisfied enjoying the Hollywood heiress life: dabbling in acting and modeling or vlogging and building social media empires.
But that’s not what their “competitive” parents, Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli, apparently thought was best for their future, a friend of the family has told People.
“They attended (USC) because their parents made them,” the insider said.
“They are average students,” the friend added. “Their focus was never about getting straight A’s. It was always clear that it was the parents that pushed them to go to school. Olivia always talks about her vlog. This is her passion. She never really understood why she needs to go to school.”
Loughlin and Giannulli both built successful, prosperous careers in TV and fashion design without attending college. But as described by People, the couple somehow believed that degrees from a prestigious college were necessary to secure Olivia Jade and Isabella’s place in America’s social hierarchy, so they put pressure on their daughters to do well in school and to attend USC.
The couple seemed to want this elite college experience so much for Olivia Jade, 19, and Isabella, 20, that they allegedly paid $500,000 in bribes to secure their admission to the school.
But now Loughlin and Giannulli have been indicted for participating in this alleged bribery scheme, and the entire family has been publicly connected to a large-scale college admissions criminal conspiracy that has incited national outrage.
For the parents’ alleged crimes and belief in the elite college dream, the entire family is starting to pay a staggering price.
The reputations of all four Giannulli family members are being dragged in the media. Loughlin and her husband face the possibility of prison time, while Loughlin has been fired from upcoming episodes of “Fuller House” and cut from her longtime association with the Hallmark Channel, TMZ reported.
Olivia Jade’s social media influencer enterprise also is crumbling: She lost a lucrative deal with Sephora cosmetics company to promote their products and her signature powder collection on her Instagram and YouTube accounts.
On top of all that, Olivia Jade and Isabella have decided to leave USC for fear of being bullied, TMZ reported Thursday.
While USC countered TMZ’s report and said the sisters were still enrolled, it is hard to believe how Olivia Jade and Isabella could stay at the school — even after their parents risked so much to get them admitted.
Reports say some, if not all, of the family is hunkered down in their lavish $35 million Bel Air mansion. Both Loughlin and Giannulli used the mansion after their arrests to guarantee their $1 million bonds to be released from custody.
“Olivia and Bella are both devastated by what’s happened. It’s been mortifying and frightening for them,” a source told Entertainment Tonight. “They love their parents dearly and realize they only wanted the best for them but they are starting to realize how very serious the charges (against) their parents are at their expense.”
Olivia Jade and Isabella also “never expected their parents to be charged for any crime, let alone one related to them,” the ET source continued.
“They’ve always seen themselves as a good, honest family that works hard and follows the rules, but everything has changed overnight,” the ET source added. “The reality of all of this has been devastating.”
But Olivia Jade apparently knew that her father didn’t always play by the rules when it came to his own college education. In an interview posted March 8, Olivia Jade said her father, who created the Mossimo fashion line, never actually enrolled in college, according to People. He instead started his fashion business by using money his parents gave him, believing he would use it for his tuition.
“He didn’t come from a lot so it’s cool to see that he built it all himself,” Olivia Jade said on the the Zach Sang Show. “He, like, faked his way through it and then he started his whole business with tuition money that his parents thought was going to college.”
It’s not clear whether Olivia Jade or Isabella knew about their parents alleged rule-breaking with regard to their USC applications. Their parents allegedly paid to have both their daughters designated as recruits to the USC crew team, even though neither had ever actively participated in the sport.
The complaint against her parents alleges that Olivia Jade was photographed in an “action picture” meant to bolster her credibility as a crew coxswain for her application.
Now, it looks like such elaborate and allegedly criminal efforts by Loughlin and Giannulli to get Olivia Jade and Isabella into USC may have destroyed their standing in the social hierarchy to which they always worked so hard to belong, according to People.
Among the many consequences of being connected to this scandal is that friends of Loughlin and Giannulli have begun to distance themselves, People reported.
“Lori and Mossimo are finding out quickly who their real friends are,” an insider told People. “It’s not like they are the victims of a crime. They are the crime.”
“Many of their friends don’t want to be associated with them right now,” the source added. “Their friends are shocked at the allegations.”
