Daughters put aside hard feelings to mark Loughlin’s 55th birthday
Lori Loughlin may be facing years in prison, and her happy family life in a Bel Air mansion may have been irreparably damaged by her alleged efforts to bribe her daughters’ way into USC.
But Sunday was her 55th birthday. For one day at least, daughters Olivia Jade Giannulli and Isabella Giannulli put aside whatever anger, fear or shame they have reportedly felt in the wake of the college admissions scandal to return to Instagram and wish the embattled former “Full House” actress a happy birthday.
“Happy birthday mama. I love you,” Isabella, 20, wrote under a black-andwhite photo of her with the actress.
The tribute was Isabella’s first Instagram post since January, two months before her family was upended when her parents, Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli, were arrested and accused of paying $500,000 in bribes to have Isabella and Olivia designated as crew team athletes to gain admission to the prestigious Los Angeles university.
On Monday, onetime aspiring social media influencer Olivia Jade, 19, shared her first Instagram post since news of the scandal broke. She shared a photo of herself as a little girl on her mother’s lap. “One day late. happy birthday. i love you so much,” she wrote.
The charges against Loughlin made her one of the highest profile — and widely criticized — figures in the scandal.
Fifty people and 32 other wealthy parents have been charged in what federal investigators have dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues.” Loughlin’s daughters also faced an onslaught of anger and mockery after the federal complaint against her parents showed they didn’t have the grades and test scores to get into USC.
Critics viewed the sisters as privileged, pampered “average” students who took away coveted college spots from more deserving students.
Both daughters were said to be “suffering” from the fall-out of their parents’ arrest, but Olivia Jade also reportedly was angry at her parents for “ruining” her life. Olivia Jade had begged her parents to let her focus on her career as a YouTube vlogger and Instagram influencer, Entertainment Tonight reported in March.