Have Mercy! From ‘Full House’ to the College Admissions Scandal — See Lori Loughlin’s Transformation

From her days as Aunt Becky on Full House to today, Lori Loughlin has gone through quite a transformation — mainly pertaining to her image. The actress was once beloved for being the gal to land Uncle Jesse, but years later she became entangled in a nationwide scandal landed her in the slammer.

In March 2019, In Touch reported Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, were indicted and arrested for “agree[ing] to pay bribes totaling $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters designated as recruits to the University of Southern California crew team,” despite neither of her kids — Isabella, 23, and Olivia, 23 — participating in the sport. Soon after their arrest, the two parents were released on bond.

Starting in April 2019, the couple continually pleaded not guilty to “conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.” In October 2019, the actress and the clothing designer were slammed with more charges for conspiring to commit federal program bribery. The couple changed their tune when both stars accepted plea deals in May 2020. Loughlin was sentenced to two months in prison, and Giannulli was ordered to serve five.

To earn back the trust of Americans, Loughlin has a lot of explaining to do, reputation and management expert Eric Schiffer told In Touch exclusively. “She has thumbed her nose and approached the whole process in a very arrogant style that has choked off compassion and empathy that she would have normally had to some extent with her fans and she’s taken her brand and created a blistering of fact to what was a beloved and trusted celebrity for years,” Schiffer explained.

“Can she recover from a felony and being in prison for a period of time? Yes,” Schiffer said. “But it’s going to require her to show a level of regret and remorse and for her to begin to build back and create a story that allows people to reconnect with her and understand how she could have been, and how she could have made these decisions and also act in the ways that she did post-indictment that caused such an odious element to her and her celebrity.”

Following her time behind bars, Lori was “happy to finally be back with her daughters,” a source told In Touch in January 2021. 

“The biggest hurdle for her is repairing her relationships with Bella and Olivia. That’s the priority,” the insider added. “Lori feels that she’s a changed woman, and her girls have changed too. There’s a lot of work ahead. It’s going to take time.”

Nearly four years after the scandal, the sitcom actress made her first non-acting television appearance and shared a rare statement about persevering over hard times. 

“It is a community, it is a family, and all the people that work here are so wonderful,” the Summerland producer gushed about working with Project Angel Food, an organization that helps deliver 1 million meals annually, during its “Lead with Love 3” telethon in July 2022. “They have welcomed me with such open arms at a time when I was feeling particularly down and broken. That’s how I found a home here, and that’s what I feel like they did for me, and that’s why I’m so proud to be here and working with this organization, because they really do care. It’s really a community.”

Scroll below for a look at Loughlin’s transformation, from eager teen star to scandalous mom.