SALT LAKE CITY — Lori Loughlin is reportedly second-guessing her decision to plead not guilty in the college admissions scandal, and she feels “very much alone.”
Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli are accused of paying $500,000 in bribes so that their daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Giannulli, would be team crew recruits for the University of Southern California. Neither daughter previously competed in the sport. Loughlinand Giannulli pleaded not guilty in the case.
An unnamed source told Entertainment Tonight that Loughlin “feels very much alone” during the ongoing college admissions scandal.
- "While a few friends have stuck by her side, many others have cut her off," the source told ET. "She still feels it’s a huge misunderstanding, but seeing others be sentenced has scared her."
- "She is watching the reduced sentences of those who have taken plea deals, and wondering each day if she’s made the wrong decision," the source told ET.
- "Lori has no choice but to hang in there and do the best she can," the source continued.
- "She is trying to live a normal everyday life and to take this time to stay strong but it isn’t easy. Lori doesn’t have the support she once had. She is feeling a 'fall from grace' having had a persona as a wholesome mom and now being seen as a pariah," the source told ET. "People keep giving Lori a hard time for being out and about and looking carefree, but she realizes that she might end up in prison and this might just be her last months of freedom for some time."
The source also told Entertainment Tonight that Loughlin and Giannulli reportedly turned down an initial plea deal.
As I wrote for the Deseret News, Loughlin and Giannulli may have turned down a plea deal that looked similar to the deal that Toby MacFarlane received for pleading guilty. MacFarlane, who reportedly paid $450,000 in bribes, received a plea agreement that “involved 15 months in prison, a year of supervised release, a $95,000 penalty and an unspecified amount of restitution for his crime,” according to the Deseret News.
Yes, but: Previous reports indicated that Loughlin feels she doesn’t deserve jail time and that she and her husband plan to claim ignorance in the case. So, it’s unclear whether these recent reports from unnamed sources are trying to change the narrative or are a true indication of how Loughlin is feeling about the case.
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Accused parents, like Lori Loughlin, didn't think payments were bribes