Olivia Jade Giannulli Opens Up On Her Parents’ College Admission Scandal (Pic credit – Still from video )
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Lori Loughlin and husband Mossimo Giannulli’s admission scandal has been the talk of the town for a while. But guess who’s speaking about it finally? It’s none other than her daughter Olivia Jade Giannulli with Jada Pinkett Smith on Red Table.
Olivia is a popular YouTuber before her parents were accused in the college-admission scandal and ever since then, everyone in the family has been keeping a low profile.
Jada Pinkett Smith sat with her mother Adrienne Banfield Norris and daughter Willow Smith and spoke to Olivia Jade Giannulli for the first time ever and gave her a chance to speak about her ‘Redemption story’ on Red Table Talk.
Adrienne started by saying, “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 bothersome to me on so many levels. Her being here is the epitome of white privilege.”
Jada then revealed that she felt like a responsibility towards Olivia to give her a fair chance to present her story after she approached the host to let her come and speak about it on Red Table Talk.
“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 there. Okay?” Jada explained. “I also believe that these are the kinds of attitudes that feed the same thing that we’re fighting. It’s like, people look at us, they say you’re Black, and you’re female, they automatically put us in a category. So looking at her as being white, young and privileged. And then putting her in a category is the same thing. So I just see it as this cycle.”
Talking about the college admission scandal, Olivia explained, “I know that sounds so silly but in the bubble that I grew up in, I didn’t know so much outside of it. And a lot of kids in that bubble, their parents were donating to schools and doing stuff that advantaged them… It’s not fair and it’s not right. But it was happening, right? And so when this first came out, I was like, I don’t really understand what’s wrong with this.”
After Lori and Mossimo were taken in custody, the young YouTuber never returned to USC and talking about the same, she said, “I never went back. I was too embarrassed… I shouldn’t have been there in the first place, clearly. So there was no point in me trying to go back.”
Talking about her image, Olivia Jade Giannulli said, “That’s embarrassing within itself that I walked around my whole 20 years of life not realizing like, you have insane privilege—you’re like the poster child of white privilege and you had no idea.”
Talking about the USC scandal, she concluded, “There is no justifying or excusing what happened because what happened was wrong. And I think every single person in my family can be like, that was messed up. That was a big mistake. But I think what’s so important to me is like to learn from the mistake. Not to now be shamed and punished and never given a second chance. I’m 21, I feel like I deserve a second chance to redeem myself, to show I’ve grown.”
Watch the full conversation here:
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