Lori Loughlin Speaks Out Following Varsity Blues Scandal: “You Can’t Hang on to Negativity. Life’s Too Short”

Five years after the sensational college admission scandal that landed her in federal prison for nearly two months, Lori Loughlin is following up her reemergence on television with her first major magazine interview since she was at the center of the national controversy. 

Loughlin, 59, has appeared on the cover of the latest issue of First for Women and, in the accompanying article, she discussed her life in 2024 without directly addressing the scandal.

“Every day, we’re met with different obstacles. But, for me, it’s like that song says, ‘I get knocked down, but I get up again,'” she said. “Nobody said life was going to be a breeze; we all make mistakes, but the important thing is to persevere.”

In 2019, she and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, were named alongside several other parents in the nationwide FBI investigation into William “Rick” Singer, who was paid large sums of money to fraudulently inflate children’s test scores and bribe college officials to gain them admission. Loughlin and Giannulli pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud in connection with the case, which was dubbed Operation Varsity Blues. The Full House actor was sentenced to two months in prison in October 2020; she was released in December 2020 just ahead of completing the full sentence.

Following her release, Loughlin returned to acting with her Great American Family series When Hope Calls in late 2021. She recently emerged before a wider audience, playing a heightened version of herself in HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm’s farewell season, which recently concluded. In the March 10 episode, she parodied herself by leaning into a storyline that centered around her reputation having taken a hit following the scandal.

The magazine cover story, however, reestablishes Loughlin in her easy-to-like public persona. Though dodging discussion of the controversy with which her name is so closely tied, she did speak about her current outlook.  

“I try to be a forgiving person. I’m not one to hold onto stuff. Stuff happens to everyone. We’ve all been in positions to ask for forgiveness but to ask for it, you have to learn and know how to give forgiveness, too,” she said while discussing the power of moving on.

“My family wasn’t one to hold grudges,” she added. “I didn’t grow up in a household where if you made a mistake, you weren’t forgiven. No one is perfect, we all make mistakes. So I was always told to let stuff go. And I think for your own health, you have to let things go, because you can’t hang on to negativity. Life’s too short.”

With her stint behind bars now in the past, Loughlin appears ready to move on — and has showed she’s even ready to laugh about it a little. In her Curb episode, the actress sought out the improv comedy’s central curmudgeon Larry David to sponsor her to get into his elite country club after she became a social pariah in Los Angeles. However, she ended up revealing herself as someone who cheats on the golf course, lies to get handicap parking privileges and flirts her way to getting the best tee times.

Loughlin didn’t do interviews after the role, but Curb executive producer Jeff Schaffer told The Hollywood Reporter after the episode that she was an immediate yes when they pitched her on the story, and that she loved the episode after it aired.

“We called her manager up, who loved it, and who then talked to Lori, and she said: ‘I’m in, I’m totally game.’ And she was. She was so great,” said Schaffer. “Everything we threw at her, she was game to do. She makes the episode. I’m so glad she wanted to do it.”

He added, “It’s great to be able to laugh at yourself. It’s a great way to put the past behind you. I hope it helps her career. She was great, and she should work. She was really funny and wonderful to work with.”

Such a funny and self-deprecating role is one thing to give her a sense of gratitude.

“I’m grateful,” she told First for Women. “So I’d say I’m strong, grateful, open and kind.”