Olivia Jade Gave Her 1st Interview About The College Admissions Scandal
Olivia Jade Giannulli became something of a household name in March 2019, when her parents, Full House star Lori Loughlin and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, were arrested in the massive college admissions scandal that saw wealthy parents lying, cheating, and bribing in order to get their children into prestigious universities.
Glamour Mag – Since then, Olivia Jade remained relatively quiet about the matter, likely because her parents were involved in an ongoing legal case—but now she’s ready to open up. The venue she picked? Red Table Talk, Jada Pinkett Smith’s Facebook show with her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Jones, and daughter, Willow Smith, on which the three generations get super honest with guests on a variety of topics.
The show’s three hosts knew Giannulli’s appearance would be controversial, with Banfield-Jones taking the biggest issue with having her on. “I’ve just found it really ironic that she chose three Black women to reach out to for her redemption story,” Olivia Jade says. “I feel like here we are—a white woman coming to Black women for support—when we don’t get the same from them. It’s just, it’s bothersome to me on so many levels. Her being here is the epitome of white privilege to me.” (You definitely don’t want to miss the moment when Banfield-Jones explains to Giannulli why it’s difficult for her to have compassion for her at this moment in time.)
Pinkett-Smith, on the other hand, saw things a bit differently. “I understand where you’re coming from, but let me just be clear: I never want to be the thing that was done to me by white women. I never want to be that,” Olivia Jade says. “I also believe that these are the kind of attitudes that feed the same theme that we’re fighting. It’s like people look at us, they say, ‘You’re Black and you’re female’ and they automatically put us in a category. So looking at her as being white, young, and privileged and then putting her in the category; it’s the same.”
Olivia Jade Gave Her 1st Interview About The College Admissions Scandal
So what did we learn from Olivia Jade Giannulli? You can watch her interview on Red Table Talk via Facebook, but here are a few highlights:
On why Olivia Jade chose Red Table Talk:
“I’m nervous. If you guys could feel my heart. I’m excited. I think [I’m] definitely ready to address some things, and I can’t think of a better place, so thank you for having me…. I think that this has been a really eye-opening experience for me, and although there’s a lot of negative around it and there’s a lot of mistakes and wrongdoings, it’s led me to have a completely different outlook on a lot of situations. I also felt like I wanted to be somewhere where I didn’t feel attacked and maybe I could feel more understood. I’ve watched the show, and I think you guys are all amazing, and it feels really safe. But it also feels honest, and it feels like we’re gonna all lay it out here. It’s gonna be an open conversation, which is really important to me as well.”
On her mom and dad being in prison:
“It’s been hard. I think for anybody, no matter what the situation is, you don’t want to see your parents go to prison. But also I think it’s necessary for us to move on and move forward…. I actually haven’t spoken to either of them. There’s a quarantine phase, just because of COVID, so I think that is the reason, but I’m not too sure. I just haven’t heard anything, so I’m just waiting.
“I’ve never gone that long without [talking to my parents]. I’m super close with my parents, especially my mom. She’s, like, my best friend, so it’s definitely been really hard not being able to talk to her. But I know she’s strong and I know it’s a good reflection period. I’m trying to look at the positives in situations, you know? I know it’s a positive. She’s in there right now, and she gets to really rethink everything that happened—kind of figure out when she comes out what she wants to do with what she’s learned through all of this. I think that hopefully will be a blessing in the end.”
On repercussions:
“I’m not trying to victimize myself. I don’t want pity, I don’t deserve pity. We messed up. I just want a second chance to be like, ‘I recognize I messed up.’ For so long I wasn’t able to talk about this because of the legalities behind it. I never got to say, ‘I’m really sorry that this happened,’ or, ‘I really own that this was a big mess-up on everybody’s part,’ but I think everybody feels that way in my family right now.
“I’ve felt mostly embarrassed and ashamed of everything that’s happened. Things I’ve lost. I guess just from looking as an outsider, you could say I lost brand deals, I lost followers or whatever it was—but I really felt most moved by the fact that we did all of this and were so ignorant. I feel like a huge part of having privilege is not knowing you have privilege.
“When it was happening, it didn’t feel wrong. It didn’t feel like, ‘That’s not fair, a lot of people don’t have that.’ I was in my own little bubble focusing about my comfortable world. I never had to look outside of that bubble.”
Olivia Jade Gave Her 1st Interview About The College Admissions Scandal
On being misunderstood:
“I also felt very misunderstood. The picture that has been painted of me, I feel like it’s not who I am. I’m not this bratty girl that doesn’t want to change anything. Also, I understand why people are angry, and I understand when people say hurtful things. I think I had to go through the backlash and the stuff because when you read it, you realize that there’s some truth in it. I understood that people were upset and angry and maybe it took me a little bit longer to understand what for. But man, am I glad I did realize what for. Better late than never.”
On white privilege:
“I understand that just based on my skin color, I already had my foot in the door, and I was already ahead of everybody else. Going forward, I do want to do stuff to change that. I had a cool experience a few weeks back where I went downtown in the Watts area, and I got to work with some kids in this after-school program. It kind of just shifted my whole mentality because when I was sitting with them and talking to them, they all were so little, but they were so grateful for that education…. I was watching them and thinking about my situation and I took all of that for granted. I didn’t think that I was lucky to have that. I just expected it.”
On whether she was angry when the scandal first happened:
“To be honest, I wasn’t angry. And I think it’s because I didn’t have a good understanding of what just happened. I didn’t see the wrong in it. One hundred percent, honestly, when it first happened, I didn’t look at it and say, ‘Oh my God, how dare we do this?’ I was like, ‘Why is everybody complaining? I’m confused what we did.’ And that’s embarrassing to admit.”
