LOS ANGELES, CA — Olivia Jade Giannulli, who is the daughter of actress Lori Loughlin and designer Mossimo Giannulli, recently appeared on the Facebook Watch show “Red Table Talk” to publicly address the college admissions scandal for the first time.
Jada Pinkett-Smith, who hosts the show along with her mother Adrienne Banfield Norris and daughter Willow Smith, revealed that it was Olivia Jade who reached out and asked to come to the table.
“I’ve watched the show and I think you guys are all amazing and it feels really safe, but it also feels honest,” Olivia said. “It feels like we’re going to all lay it out here and it’s going to be an open conversation which is really important to me as well.”
At the beginning of the show, Banfield Norris shared that she “fought it tooth and nail” and was against having Olivia Jade on the show.
“I just found it really ironic that she chose three Black women to reach out to for her redemption story. It’s just bothersome to me on so many levels. Her being her is the epitome of white privilege to me,” Banfield Norris said.
Olivia Jade said that she came to the table because she felt that it was time to address the scandal and wanted to be able to apologize for what happened.
“I’m not trying to victimize myself, I don’t want pity. I don’t deserve pity. We messed up. I just want a second chance to be like ‘I recognized I messed up’.” Olivia shared.
Olivia revealed that she was on spring break when she found out that her parents had been arrested and made the decision to not return to USC after feeling ashamed and embarrassed of what had transpired.
“I never went back, I was too embarrassed,” she said. “I shouldn’t have been there in the first place clearly, so there was no point in me trying to go back.”
Loughlin and Giannulli who were among 50 people charged in the nationwide college bribery scandal, pleaded guilty to conspiracy related charges in May 2020 and are both currently serving their respective prison sentences.
Olivia, whose made a name for herself as a beauty influencer and YouTuber, admitted that when the news of the scandal first became public, she didn’t really understand why people were upset.
“In the bubble I grew up in, I didn’t know so much outside of it. And a lot of kids in that bubble, their parents were donating to schools and doing stuff that advantaged [them],” she said. “It’s not fair and it’s not right but it was happening, so when this first came out I was like, ‘I don’t really understand what’s wrong with this.’”
Moving forward, she shared that she’s committed to giving back and donating her time rather than money.
“I want to give back… I’m just at the beginning and I want to continue doing stuff and finding more things to do, but not just throw money at a problem, you know? I want to invest myself so I can start to understand,” Olivia said.
