Olivia Jade Giannulli jokingly compares kitchen to ‘prison’ after Lori Loughlin’s college admissions scandal

Olivia Jade Giannulli has compared her kitchen to a “prison” following her mother Lori Loughlin’s college admissions scandal.

The 24-year-old YouTuber made the quip about her home in a recent video posted to her channel, as she documented “a week in [her] life in 2024”. Her joke came nearly four years after her mother and father, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, served time in prison for their role in the national college admissions bribery scandal.

In her YouTube video, Giannulli could be seen standing in her kitchen, as she was making herself something to eat. She then began to describe her space and some of the renovations that she’ll be making to it.

“Sorry for the mess that’s behind me, the kitchen needs a clean,” she said. “I’m so excited, you guys, I finally ordered wallpaper for the kitchen so it’s not going to feel so sterile.”

She continued the video by quipping about how the wallpaper would impact her kitchen, adding: “It’s not going to feel like a prison.”

Giannulli went on to acknowledge how viewers would mock her for the prison reference, with jokes about her parents’ college admission scandal. “Save the jokes,” she said. “Don’t want to hear it. I set you up, and I don’t want you to tee off, okay?”

In 2019, the Full House star and her husband were among 33 wealthy parents who were charged with trying to rig the American college admissions system. They admitted to paying half a million dollars to guarantee their daughters’ – Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose Giannulli – admission at the University of Southern California (USC) under false pretences.

In October 2020, Loughlin was sentenced to two months in prison, while the designer was sentenced to five months. In addition to the prison sentence, Loughlin was ordered to pay a $150,000 fine and perform 100 hours of community service. Under his own plea deal, Loughlin’s husband was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine and perform 250 hours of community service.

Months later, Olivia Jade Giannulli broke her silence about the college admissions scandal during an appearance on Red Table Talk. “I think that what hasn’t been super public is that there is no justifying or excusing what happened,” she said during the episode, which aired in December 2020. “Because what happened was wrong.”

Giannulli then said it was important for her “to learn from the mistake” and “not be shamed and punished and never given a second chance.” She added: “I feel like I deserve a second chance to redeem myself, to show I’ve grown.”

At the time, she also clarified that she was not “trying to victimise [herself]” in her decision to speak out. “I don’t want pity. I don’t deserve pity,” she said. “We messed up. I just want a second chance to be like: ‘I recognise I messed up.’ And for so long I wasn’t able to talk about this because of the legalities behind it. I never got to say: ‘I’m really sorry that this happened,’ or, ‘I really own that this was a big mess-up on everybody’s part.’”

During a 2021 episode of her podcast, Conversations with Olivia Jade, the influencer also opened up about her fears of being cancelled for saying the wrong thing after her parents’ college admissions scandal, after noting that she’s “hesitant” to talk about the bribery scheme and her parents’ involvement “because of the trauma”.

“I feel like I walk on eggshells when I talk, just because I don’t want to say the wrong thing, and I want to make it clear to people listening that, like, I’m not trying to victimise myself,” she said.

She also admitted that the incident had changed her but not “entirely in a good way sometimes”. For explained, the influencer said she was “way harder” on herself in the aftermath of the backlash.

“You kind of start to believe what people are telling you. Like, you don’t deserve a second chance and there is no room for growth,” she explained. "You feel like, not to sound super dark, but how do you bounce back then? Because I want to be alive. I still want to grow up."