Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli’s divorce was due to the fallout of their ‘varsity blues’ college admissions scandal, it has been claimed.
It emerged in 2019 that Loughlin, 61, and Giannulli, 62, had paid a fixer $500,000 to falsely pass off their daughters Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose as potential college rowers in order to get them into the University of Southern California.
After initially maintaining their innocence, both parents ultimately pled guilty on conspiracy charges, with him spending five months in prison and her serving two.
News broke early in October that they had decided to go their separate ways after a marriage of 28 years – as a friend of Loughlin’s alleged the Full House actress had discovered ‘incriminating’ texts and emails on Giannulli’s phone, via Page Six.
Now, however, a source has said: ‘The school scandal was a turning point, and they never really connected or recovered their relationship after that,’ via Us Weekly.
‘She felt that he got her involved. She didn’t fully blame him, but he spearheaded it,’ the insider alleged, adding that Loughlin ‘never fully forgave him and never fully got over it, and they were never the same after.’
The Daily Mail has contacted Loughlin’s representative for comment.Â
Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli’s divorce was due to the fallout of their ‘varsity blues’ college admissions scandal, it has been claimed; seen 2015Â
When news of their split went public, Loughlin’s representative informed the Daily Mail that she and Giannulli were ‘living apart and taking a break from their marriage. There are no legal proceedings at this time.’
She had just been glimpsed outside the private members’ Bird Streets Club in Los Angeles sharing a hug with James Tupper, who co-starred with her in two TV movies for Great American Family and used to be romantically involved with Anne Heche.
Meanwhile, the same day news broke of his separation from Loughlin, Giannulli was spotted on a Beverly Hills shopping spree with 32-year-old stylist Hannah Harrison.
However Harrison insisted that their relationship was strictly ‘platonic’ and that their sighting was a case of ‘bad timing,’ speaking to Us Weekly.
‘I went to the [G/FORE Supply] store not knowing that his separation had been announced. I was going there to meet him,’ she said, insisting their visit to the shop was work-related and that they were merely ‘good friends.’
Giannulli and Harrison were then seen in November arriving together at the Los Angeles nightclub Zouk, located in West Hollywood.Â
A source has now maintained Giannulli and Loughlin are ‘friendly’ and ‘don’t hate each other’ and that the split is ‘more amicable than people think or would expect,’ to the point Giannulli was allegedly ‘invited’ to Loughlin’s family Christmas.
Nevertheless, added the insider, the fashion designer and Full House actress ‘are living separate lives and figuring out next steps. Divorce looks like it’s the future.’
After initially maintaining their innocence, both parents ultimately pled guilty on conspiracy charges and went to jail; pictured leaving a federal courthouse in Boston in 2019Â
It emerged in 2019 the couple paid a fixer $500,000 to falsely pass off their daughters Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose into USC; Loughlin pictured with her daughters in 2019
The source claimed they are in ‘no rush’ to file for divorce and that a ‘lot of financials need to be worked out’ first, but alleged they have begun to sell off their assets.
Their property portfolio includes a mansion in Hidden Hills – the ritzy Los Angeles suburban enclave that also plays host to various Kardashians – as well as another in the upscale Southern California getaway destination of Palm Desert.Â
They were apparently ‘always’ capable of retaining ‘a united front’ for their daughters but had in fact ‘drifted apart in the last few years,’ according to a different source.
‘They grew apart and realized neither of them had much in common anymore as the girls got older and as the dust settled from the scandal,’ said that insider.
Giannulli and Loughlin ‘both made mistakes’ and had ‘a lot of ups and downs’ over the course of the marriage, per that source.Â
The scandal erupted in 2019 with claims Loughlin and Giannulli paid fixer Rick Singer get their daughters into USC for rowing, a sport neither of them played.
On the day they were indicted, one of those daughters – Olivia Jade – was holidaying on the yacht of the USC trustee board’s billionaire chairman Rick Caruso, who has since run unsuccessfully for Mayor of Los Angeles.
Olivia was apparently on the vessel with Caruso’s daughter Gigi, who was her age and also a freshman at USC, according to The Hollywood Reporter.Â
The same day news broke of his separation from Loughlin, Giannulli was spotted on a Beverly Hills shopping spree with 32-year-old stylist Hannah Harrison (pictured)
She had just been glimpsed outside sharing a hug with her two-time co-star James Tupper, who is pictured in 2010 with his then-girlfriend Anne Heche
Although Giannulli and Loughlin initially claimed to be innocent, he pled guilty in 2020 to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and honest services and mail fraud, while his wife pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud.
Both of them went to jail for their part in ‘Operation Varsity Blues,’ as famously did Felicity Huffman, although she was only sentenced to 14 days and served 11.
Huffman’s marriage to her longtime husband William H. Macy remains intact, but it has now been alleged the fracas took a toll on Giannulli and Loughlin’s relationship.Â
Loughlin has demonstrated a sense of humor about the college admissions scandal in recent years, playing herself in a 2024 episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
On that episode, the fictionalized version of her enlists Larry David’s help to get her a country club membership after she was blackballed over her past misdeeds.
