Oh, the irony. Many fans reached out to Olivia Jade Giannulli for advice on college applications — even though the beauty guru allegedly didn’t even fill out her own application to the University of Southern California.
Olivia, 19, opened up about her college experience during a March appearance on The Zach Sang show, just days before her parents, Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli, were arrested for allegedly paying $500,000 to get her and her older sister, Bella, 20, admitted into USC as crew team recruits, although neither girl has ever played the sport.
“It’s the coolest thing getting DMs from girls, like, ‘I’m applying to college right now. What did you do?’ Like, all this stuff,” the social media star, who boasts nearly 2 million YouTube subscribers, said at the time. “It’s fun.”
However, Olivia wasn’t really involved in her own application process. According to documents obtained by The Atlantic, Loughlin, 55, emailed Operation Varsity Blues’ cooperating witness, William “Rick” Singer, in December 2017 “to request guidance on how to complete the formal USC application, in the wake of her [other] daughter’s provisional acceptance as a recruited athlete.”
The 90210 alum allegedly wrote, “[Our younger daughter] has not submitted all her colleges [sic] apps and is confused on how to do so. I want to make sure she gets this in as I don’t want to call any attention to [her] with her little friend at [her high school]. Can you tell us how to proceed?”
Singer “responded by directing an employee to submit the applications” for Olivia, according to the documents.
Aside from receiving DMs from fans, Olivia made another jaw-dropping confession about her college experience during her interview on The Zach Sang Show. “A lot of my friends didn’t finish high school or go to college, just because they were so focused on [having YouTube careers], which I also think is really great, but I feel like I would have had weird FOMO not going to college if all my best friends from high school went and were, like, texting me, telling me how it was, all the parties, schoolwork, everything,” she explained. “I would be like, ‘What am I missing out on?’”
Although the vlogger pursued a college career, a source exclusively told Us Weekly last month that she “blames her mom and dad … for the downfall of her career” because she “didn’t even show interest in going to college. She wanted to take time and work on her beauty career, but her parents were the ones who wanted her to get an education.”
The Fuller House actress and the fashion designer appeared in federal court in Boston on Wednesday, April 3, to face the charges against them.
