John Stamos remembers the days leading up to Lori Loughlin‘s college scandal like it was yesterday.
In his memoir, If You Would Have Told Me, which was released on Tuesday, October 24, Stamos, 60, discussed how he found out about Loughlin being accused of bribing the University of Southern California to ensure her daughters got admitted into college.
“In March 2019, I get a strange text around 5:30 am from my good friend Roger Lodge. He asks if Lori is okay. I hit him back, ‘Why, what’s up?’ Something about a college scandal,” he wrote. “I started googling, but there was very little I could find. I knew she was working in Canada, so I called to check on her.”
Stamos reached out to Loughlin, 59, who seemingly had “no idea” what Stamos meant.
“‘Oh that, yeah, I’m not sure,’ she answers so casually as if I just asked her if Nicky and Alex finished all their vegetables. ‘I have seen some emails lately from lawyers to Moss, but I stay out of it,’” he continued. “Before I can process her response, I notice an odd clicking sound on the phone line. When I asked her about it, she again adopts her laissez-faire tone, ‘Oh, they may be bugging my phone.’”
Stamos ended the call “as fast” as he could but the news was already everywhere. “Then, switching on the news, the story breaks big time. I immediately text Lori, ‘Are you watching the news?’ he recalled. “An FBI agent is announcing the largest college admissions scandal ever handled by the Department of Justice, involving bribes to prestigious colleges for falsified student acceptances.”
The actor, who starred alongside Loughlin in Full House from 1987 to 1995, urged his former costar to turn on the TV, adding, “She asks, ‘What channel?’ I text back in all caps: ‘EVERY CHANNEL!’”
Loughlin previously made headlines when she and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, were accused in 2019 of paying $500,000 in bribes to get their daughters, Bella, 25, and Olivia Jade, 24, into USC. In March of that year, the couple were indicted and they pleaded guilty to fraud charges two months later.
At the time, Stamos admitted he was struggling to understand Loughlin’s alleged role in the college admissions scandal. “I gotta be careful. I want to wait until the trial happens, if it does, or whatever the result is, and then talk about it,” he told GQ in 2019. “I’ll tell you one thing that has been strange is: Honestly I can’t figure it out. It doesn’t make sense.”
In April 2020, photos of Loughlin and Giannulli’s daughters on a rowing machine, as a part of the scam to get them into college, were released. Loughlin was sentenced to two months behind bars and was released in December 2020. Giannulli, 60, was released in April after serving a five-month sentence.
Following her release, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that the actress was looking to “put the past” behind her. “She has served her time in jail and completed her probation, community service and paid all of her court fines,” the insider told Us in October 2021.
The source also detailed Loughlin’s work with Project Angel Food after her required 100 community service hours were complete. The insider noted that Loughlin “privately arranged to put two students through four years of college” and has paid their tuition and the expenses, which totaled more than $500,000.
Loughlin has continued to stay in touch with many of her Full House costars since her legal drama. Stamos opened up about his bond with Loughlin in his memoir, writing, “Lori Loughlin continues to be a cherished friend to this day. We’ve weathered storms together and stood by each other’s sides, despite life‘s hurdles. We’ve seen each other at our worst.”
Stamos went on to praise Loughlin for her resilience in the face of adversity.
“I’ve witnessed moments where giving up could’ve been the easiest way out for Lori. She could have shifted the blame and let her family, marriage, and life crumble. But she didn’t,” he continued. “No matter how hard she was hit, how desperate everyone was to cancel her and throw her in with the pile of brutal criminals, she stood fast, protecting her daughters from the mud hurled at them day after day after day.”
Stamos added: “She managed to get up every morning, then got down on her knees and prayed to keep her family together. She did the same every night. And in between, she mostly fought to stay alive.”
The Big Shot alum said Loughlin’s “resolve and faith” only got stronger over the years.
“She moved into the same neighborhood as me and [my wife] Caitlin [McHugh], which I found comforting as we could offer immediate support,” Stamos concluded. “Hours turned into lessons, discussions about life’s highs and lows, good and evil, and the ultimate keyword — sacrifice.”
If You Would Have Told Me is available now wherever books are sold.
