Lori Loughlin’s costar launches blistering attack on her ex Mossimo Giannulli six years after Varsity Blues scandal

Lori Loughlin‘s former Full House co-star and longtime friend, John Stamos, launched a blistering attack on her estranged husband Mossimo Giannulli.  

While appearing on Josh Peck and Ben Soffer’s Good Guys podcast, the actor, 61, didn’t mince words as he branded Giannulli a ‘terrible narcissist’ and claimed he dragged Loughlin, 61, into the Operation Varsity Blues fiasco that destroyed her reputation and led to her imprisonment.

‘I’m just heartbroken for her right now,’ Stamos said of the recent end of Loughlin’s 28-year marriage. ‘I’ve really tried to be there for her during this time.’

As he reflected on the 2019 college admissions scandal, involving the former power couple and their daughters Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose, Stamos also claimed that Loughlin was unfairly made the ‘poster child for white privilege.’

In the wake of the couple’s recent split after nearly three decades of marriage, Stamos revealed that Loughlin is ‘devastated’ and shattered by what she endured.

‘It’s heartbreaking,’ he said. ‘She was married 27, 28 years. Her kids are good girls. She’s beautiful inside and out. But I told her, “Every bit of negativity or hardship you’ve been through has been connected to this guy.”

The actor went even further, implying Giannulli’s behavior went beyond the college admissions scandal.

When Soffer said he heard Giannulli was ‘supposedly not a very good guy’ and may have been unfaithful, Stamos replied: ‘I’m taking the Fifth on that, but whatever he did busted her up to the core.’ 

‘She put up with a lot over the years with this guy,’ he continued. ‘She is an angel and she always made things better.’

‘Look, he’s a very successful dude. I will never talk to him again. He’s a terrible narcissist, and I don’t think you ever get out of that,’ he added firmly. ‘When you have a wife like that and a family like that, how do you bust that up?’

The actor also revealed he and his wife Caitlin McHugh have been by her side throughout her ordeal.

‘She lives in my neighborhood,’ he shared. ‘Caitlin’s been good about it.’

And while he once famously called her ‘the one that got away,’ Stamos made clear their bond is built on friendship and mutual respect.

‘Lori was Sandy [from Grease] before the leather,’ he laughed. ‘Rebecca [Romijn, his ex-wife] was Sandy after the leather.’

Despite her past legal woes, Stamos says his admiration for Loughlin has only grown.

‘[She’s] a girl who, you know, has lived her life really well, a good person, a good mother, [and] a good wife,’ he insisted.

He also recalled the morning he first learned of the Varsity Blues scandal as he described getting jolted awake by a 5 a.m. text that simply read: ‘Is Lori okay?’   

After his heart initially dropped thinking she may have been hurt, he says he reached out to Loughlin, who brushed off the gossip.

‘I called her — she was in Canada doing something for Hallmark — and I said, “Are you okay?” and she goes, “Ya, why?”‘

After he explained the rumors about the college admission scandals, she said she had received a ‘couple of emails’ about it but that ‘Mossimo handles all that stuff.’

‘She’s not a liar, you know, she’s a saint,’ he said. 

Later that day, the story exploded nationwide. 

‘I texted her, “Are you watching this press conference?” and she said, “What press conference?”‘ 

He then told her ‘the one about you and your husband and this college scandal.’

‘And she wrote back, “No, what channel is it on?” I said, ‘All channels. Every channel.’

Loughlin was ultimately sentenced to two months in prison, while Giannulli served nearly five months, but Stamos insists his friend was unfairly vilified.

‘She goes to prison for this s**t — for three months — and he goes for whatever,’ he said. ‘And in typical Lori fashion, when I asked how it was, she said, “You know, I met a lot of nice ladies in there. We had a book club.” That’s her. She didn’t deserve to be dragged through that.’

Giannulli is a successful fashion designer who founded Mossimo, a mid-range clothing company, in 1986 in Newport Beach, California.

During his first year in business, he grossed $1 million, and the following year, he made $4 million.

Mossimo expanded the line in 1991 to include sweatshirts, knits, and sweaters, and by 1995, the collection included women’s clothing and men’s suits.

After eight years in business, Mossimo, Inc. had grown into a multimillion-dollar lifestyle sportswear company, which had its initial public offering in 1996.

In 2000, Mossimo, Inc. inked a major multi-product licensing agreement with Target stores, for $27.8 million, which made his brand a household name. Mossimo was subsequently acquired by the Iconix Brand Group in 2006.

Loughlin and Giannulli were initially indicted in 2019 over allegations that they paid admissions fixer Rick Singer $500,000 to arrange for the University of Southern California to recruit their daughters onto the school’s rowing team, despite neither having any background in the sport.

In May 2020, Loughlin and Giannulli pleaded guilty in connection with conspiracy charges in the college admission bribery case.

Loughlin, a cast member on the hit sitcom Full House and its Netflix reboot, received a two-month prison sentence, along with a fine of $150,000 and 150 hours of community service.

The actress, who played Rebecca ‘Aunt Becky’ Katsopolis on Full House, began her sentence at a federal prison in Dublin, California, in October of 2020, and she was released that December.

Giannulli received a five-month sentence with a fine of $250,000 and 250 hours of community service.

In November 2020, Giannulli began his prison sentence. The fashion designer was transferred to home confinement in April 2021, about a month before his sentence ended.