UNFORGIVEN

After completing a two-month prison sentence for her role in the infamous college admissions cheating scandal, Lord Loughlin emerges to find her life (and family) in pieces

After completing a twomonth prison sentence for her role in the college admissions scandal, Lori Loughlin comes home to a sad new reality.

It was still dark when Lori Loughlin slipped out a side door of the federal women’s prison in Dublin, Calif., early on Dec. 28, wearing a black hoodie and shielding her face with a trash bag. Soon after making her way to a waiting van, reports revealed, she boarded a private jet bound for LA, putting a posh end to the Hollywood star’s twomonth stint behind bars.

Her return was filled with mixed emotions, though. “Lori isn’t celebrating,” notes an insider. “She’s told those close to her she’s relieved to be out of prison, but it’s

very bittersweet.” Her husband, designer Mossimo Giannulli, isn’t around — he’s two months into his own sentence for their participation in a college admissions cheating scandal that saw them pay $500,000 in bribes to get their daughters into the University of Southern California as crew team recruits despite no experience in the sport — and Lori’s reputation is in tatters. “Coming home wasn’t the uplifting next chapter she imagined,” adds the insider. “She’s actually gone back to a very tense atmosphere.”

STRAINED BONDS

Her relationships with daughters Olivia Jade, 21, and Isabella, 22, are different now. “The girls were home to greet their mom upon her release, but things have clearly changed between them,” says the insider. “There’s still a lot of anger and resentment. Olivia can’t forgive her mother.”

As of early December,

Olivia admitted she hadn’t spoken to either of her parents behind bars. Once a popular Youtuber, she lost her followers and brand deals after Lori and Mossimo’s actions came to light. But while Olivia suggested prison offered a “reflection period” for her convict mom, whom she long considered her best friend, the influencer’s also hinted that she was more involved in the scheme than the family let on. “We did all of this and were so ignorant,” she says. “When it was happening, it didn’t feel wrong.”

There’s still a lot to sort out. Lori, 56, who shouldered the blame along with Mossimo, 57, “is hurt, too,” shares the insider, adding that the former Full House star wishes her husband “was by her side for the tough conversations that lie ahead. Family therapy is definitely in their future.”

She may be booking individual sessions, as well. “Prison was a very dark experience, one that Lori says she wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy. The loneliness and anger she felt there was horrifying,” explains the insider. Indeed,

Lori’s world crumbled when she reported to prison on Oct. 30. Reports revealed the actress was terrified of catching COVID-19 in lockup and that the escalating pandemic drastically altered prison rules: Women were stuck in their four-person cells to increase social distancing, phone calls and showers were each cut to just three a week, visitation was suspended and meals were reduced to dry cereal and fruit for breakfast and grab bags of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch and dinner.

Lori is ready for a fresh start in the new year. “She’s privately admitting she made a lot of bad decisions. Now all she wants to do is move on, but it’s not that easy,” says the insider. “The trust they had as a family has been broken. She might be out of prison, but Lori’s nightmare is far from over.”