Lori Loughlin’s YouTuber daughter Olivia Jade Giannulli has returned to the platform roughly nine months after the college admission scandal broke to speak out for the first time about her future on YouTube. Olivia just posted her first vlog on her channel this afternoon, where she has nearly 2 million followers.
Olivia wasn’t able to detail much: She explained she can’t legally say anything about what has been happening to her and her family and that she has really grappled with when to go back to vlogging and doing beauty tutorials.
“There’s no point in me just talking for 10 minutes to the camera about how I wish I could say something when I really can’t so I’m going to leave it at that,” she said. She admitted earlier in her two-minute vlog that she does realize she needs to talk about the scandal at some point (“I know that it’s something that needs to be addressed”).
For context, Olivia’s parents Lori and Mossimo Giannulli have been charged with money laundering, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and bribery for allegedly paying $500,000 to make Olivia and her sister Isabella appear as rowing team recruits to guarantee their admission into the University of Southern California. The couple pled not guilty and will fight the charges in court; they face up to 50 years in prison. Olivia and Isabella, meanwhile, are no longer enrolled at USC.
Olivia thanked her fans for their support though and acknowledged she really is trying to better herself: “Thank you so much for your patience or if you stuck around for nine months just waiting, I really appreciate it,” she started. “This is the best I can do, and I want to move on with my life, not trying to be in a selfish way. Ah, it’s so hard because I’m not trying to like, make this about me or like how I’ve been because that’s not the point of this though I’m terrified to make this video and to come back. I know that I also want to start taking smaller steps in the right direction for people who have been DMing and asking me.”
Here, her full remarks. You can watch the video below:
Obviously I’ve been gone for a really long time and as much as I wish I could talk about all of this, it’s really hard for me to say this, just because I know that it’s something that needs to be addressed, it’s just unfortunately, which is also why I didn’t know exactly when I should come back to YouTube, but the reason for that is just ‘cause I’m legally not allowed to speak on anything going on right now. A part of me is like, should I come back to YouTube right now ‘cause it’s been so long and I actually really, really miss it, like, I genuinely miss filming. I feel like a huge part of me is just not the same because this is something that I’m really passionate about. It’s something I really like to do, but I also didn’t know—I debated for like seven or eight months, like well if I can’t talk about it, is there a point to me coming back and not being able to say anything? I want to come back because I want to come back. There’s no point in me just talking for 10 minutes to the camera about how I wish I could say something when I really can’t so I’m going to leave it at that. Thank you so much for your patience or if you stuck around for nine months just waiting, I really appreciate it. This is the best I can do, and I want to move on with my life, not trying to be in a selfish way. Ah, it’s so hard because I’m not trying to like, make this about me or like how I’ve been because that’s not the point of this though I’m terrified to make this video and to come back. I know that I also want to start taking smaller steps in the right direction for people who have been DMing and asking me. The moral of the story is I’ve missed you guys so much, and I’m just really excited to start filming again and to start uploading, and I really help you enjoy the vlog. [Olivia added a note on screen “**future vlogs. (sorry nervous haha)”]