Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli's daughter, Olivia Jade, is joining the upcoming season of "Dancing With the Stars," according to multiple reports.
Rumors of her new gig first emerged when TMZ alleged the 21-year-old would be pairing up with past mirrorball trophy winner and champion, Val Chmerkovskiy, for the upcoming 30th season. Then E! News cited a source claiming the reports were true and that Olivia was joining the show as a way of "taking her life into her own hands, learning from past mistakes, and challenging herself in new areas."
The news comes over two years after the college admissions scam, which Loughlin and Giannulli were tied to, became public. Last year, Loughlin was sentenced to two months behind bars while Giannulli got five months for paying half a million dollars in bribes to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California as rowing recruits. In addition to her prison sentence, Loughlin was ordered to pay a $150,000 fine and complete 100 hours of community service, while undergoing two years of supervised release. Giannulli was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine, complete 250 hours of community service, and undergo two years of supervised release.
Olivia maintained a low profile after the scam, finally breaking her silence in December during an appearance on "Red Table Talk."
"No matter what the situation is, you don't want to see your parents go to prison. But I think it's necessary for us to move on and move forward," she said, according to Fox News.
Elsewhere in the interview, Olivia said she deserved a second chance.
"I think that what hasn't been super public is that there is no justifying or excusing what happened because what happened was wrong," she said. "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 to learn from the mistake, not to now be shamed and punished and never given a second chance because I'm 21. I feel like I deserve a second chance to redeem myself, to show I've grown."
While the full celebrity cast for "DWTS" is still to be revealed, it has been confirmed that "Dance Moms" alum Jojo Siwa will be participating and will become the first celebrity to be matched with a same-sex dance partner on the show.
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Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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