A longtime friend of Lori Loughlin recently told CNN the actress fears going to prison and that she has officially hit “rock bottom.”
“She’s at rock bottom, devastated,” the unnamed source told CNN. “She knows she could go away for a long time and it’s terrifying for her.”
Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, were accused of paying $500,000 in bribes so that their daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose Giannulli, could be crew team recruits for the University of Southern California. They pleaded not guilty in the case.
But more recently, Loughlin and Giannulli (along with nine other parents) were slapped with an additional bribery charge, as reported by the Deseret News.
The couple currently face up to 45 years in prison for the charges. They’re still expected to head to trial.
The longtime friend told CNN that Loughlin and Giannulli’s marriage is “beyond strained” because of the scandal.
“All she wanted was the best for her daughters and she wishes people would see that,” the source told CNN. “She definitely regrets the way she’s handled herself since all this came out.”
An unnamed source told People magazine this week that “the entire family is in chaos right now” following the recent charges, too.
“They knew this was a possibility, but they thought perhaps it was just a bargaining tool from the prosecution. Now that the charges are official, they are realizing that there is no way to avoid a moderately long prison sentence, unless they are found not guilty in a trial.”
The couple still plan to head to trial, but the stress is overwhelming, the source told People magazine.
“They feel like this is David versus Goliath,” according to the unnamed source, who spoke with People magazine. “How do you go up against the federal government when the government has decided to make an example out of you? This stress is about to break them.”