The Reason Lori Loughlin Turned Down A Reality Show About Her Family Is Pretty Ironic Now

We used to know Lori Loughlin for playing the role of Rebecca Donaldson Katsopolis In "Full House," but over the years, things have really changed for the once-beloved star. In 2019, Loughlin found herself in the midst of a highly-publicized scandal that most of us have come to know as Operation Varsity Blues. For her part in the scandal, Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, paid big money to the mastermind of the operation, Rick Singer, to get their two daughters — Bella Giannulli and Olivia Jade — into the University of Southern California. While Singer had different ways to sway universities to take students, Loughlin's two daughters posed as crew recruits (even though neither one of the girls were rowers) in order to gain admission into USC. Several other affluent parents paid Singer to help their children get into top-notch schools, including "Desperate Housewives" star Felicity Huffman. However, since Loughlin was the arguably most famous name who took part in the scandal, she became the poster child and faced one headline after the next. 

After she came under fire, the actor removed herself from the spotlight and seemed to disappear. Country Living reported that Loughlin also deleted her Instagram account, where she had amassed a following of nearly 2 million. So, it's hard to believe that before everything transpired, Loughlin turned down her and her family's chance to star in their very own reality television show.

There's no doubt that Operation Varsity Blues will go down as one of the most memorable and talked-about scandals in Hollywood history. But before the college admissions scandal rocked the nation, Lori Loughlin turned down the chance to star in her own reality television show for a pretty ironic reason — she thought her family was boring. "I have my two girls ... and they're doing really well," she told E! News in 2018. "Olivia Jade's YouTube channel is doing really well, and Bella's in her first year of college, and she's enjoying it, and she's also pursuing an acting career." She also said that she'd turned down the chance for reality shows because they're "not that exciting." Say what? 

Loughlin's two daughters have remained her biggest supporters, and they were the first people from the family to break their silence after they basically went into hiding. On her podcast, "Conversations With Olivia Jade," YouTuber Olivia Jade and her sister, Bella Giannulli talked about the ordeal. "I think just the hardest part of this entire thing was watching how horrible the media was to both you and Mom and actually knowing you guys and knowing Mom has the biggest heart," Bella said. Olivia added, "She really took this whole thing on her back, solely. There are a lot of people that were in this case and a lot of other parents and I do not know one other person's name."

After the scandal, Lori Loughlin famously flew under the radar and her life looked completely different. Not only did Hallmark axe her from her popular show, "When Calls the Heart," but Loughlin went into hiding and didn't come out for quite some time. When she did re-emerge into the public eye in 2022, Loughlin broke her silence for the first time at Project Angel Food, where she was volunteering (via People). In the interview, Loughlin gushed over what a great organization Project Angel Food was and how it helped her amid the Varsity Blues scandal and all of the negative press that she received. "They have welcomed me with such open arms at a time when I was feeling particularly down and broken," she said in 2022. "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."

John Stamos, who played the role of Loughlin's husband on "Full House," has also spoken out in her favor. "She wasn't really the architect of any of it. She was in the way background. She didn't know what was going on," he told Dax Shepard on his "Armchair Expert" podcast. We would have loved to see the before, during, and after of this play out with Loughlin, her family, and friends — if only she took one of those reality deals.