PRISON TIME

As her day in court nears, Lori Loughlin readies for the worst possible outcome

As her trial nears, Lori Loughlin isn’t just preparing her defense. She’s also prepping for the possibility of 45 years behind bars.

Her trial is looming. Lori Lo ugh lin continues to face charges of bribery, wire fraud and money laundering — and up to 45 years in prison — for her alleged participation in the college admissions scandal. But she’s pleaded not guilty, and part of her and husband Mossimo G ian null i’ s reported defense is that, contrary to belief, the couple never actually sent photographs of their daughters, Olivia

Jade and Isabella, on rowing machines to the University of Southern California in a bid to get the non-athletes admitted as crew recruits. It’s rumored to be just the start of the co- defendants’ plan to prove their innocence.

Lori, 55, isn’t as confident as she may seem, though. In fact, Life & Style’s learned that the Full House star is terrified she’ll be spending a lengthy term behind bars — and she’s doing everything she can to prepare for it. “Lori’s even hired a prison expert to help her,” an insider reveals. “She doesn’t want to go to prison, of course. But in case she does wind up there, she wants to learn how to deal with other inmates and adjust to her new life in the best way possible.”

SO MUCH TO FEAR

Her concerns are valid. Fellow accused actress Felicity Huffman opted to plead guilty in the case, hoping for leniency in return, but still spent 11 days locked up. And with public sentiment seemingly against Lori — and the other wealthy parents who allegedly paid crooked college admissions counselor Rick Singer to get their kids into top-rated schools — it seems a long shot she’ll avoid prison altogether. “Lori’s fully aware that going to prison would be a shock to the system,” says the insider, who notes that the privileged Bel Air resident would suddenly have to cope with “one phone call a day, horrible prison food, having to do jobs like cleaning toilets and showers and being trapped in a cell with other criminals.”

The fact that she’s famous could make matters worse. “Lori is afraid that if she has to serve time, she’ll get bullied because of who she is,” says the insider. “She’s taking martial arts classes, so she can protect herself!”

Yet the one aspect of prison life that Lori fears

the most is the one she simply can’t prepare for: being separated from her family. “She’s trying to make the most of her time with them,” the insider says of Mossimo, 56, Isabella, 21, and Olivia Jade, 20. “She’s not sure how she’d live without her husband and daughters.”

Strained Relations want to Though Lori and Mossimo daughters spend every minute with before Olivia Jade and Isabella says the they have to face a judge, tense. insider, “things have been fighting.” The whole family’s been Lori has two preliminary court dates, on Jan. 17 and Feb. 27, when she could potentially change her plea. In the meantime, an insider says, “she’s been doing yoga to try to relax.”