Hollywood socialite Olivia Jade will discuss the college admissions scandal that gripped the nation — and sent both her parents to prison — for the first time on Jada Pinkett Smith’s “Red Table Talk” Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020.
It will be the first public statements from Jade, whose full name is Olivia Jade Giannulli, about the riveting college application impropriety perpetrated by her parents. Her high-profile parents and others were caught up in a national bribery scheme in which they used their wealth and connections to wrongly gain admittance for their children into the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and other elite institutions.
Jade, 21, said she felt protected and “safe” enough to go on the record-breaking Facebook Watch show and have an honest and candid conversation about her family’s role in the criminal enterprise.
“I’ve watched you guys, and I think you are amazing and it feels really safe,” Jade told Pinkett Smith in the preview of the upcoming show, according to Yahoo.com. “But it also feels honest and it feels we’re all gonna lay it out here and it’s gonna be, like, an open conversation.”
Jade’s parents, “Full House” actress Lori Loughlin and fashion baron Mossimo Giannulli, paid a half-million dollars to William “Rick” Singer to get Jade and her sister, Isabella Rose, 22, into USC under false pretenses, claiming the two young women were athletes, which neither is. It has never been concretely clear if the daughters knew about their parents’ illicit activity. Both parents are currently serving light prison sentences.
Jade, who was a rapidly rising social media and YouTube star, admitted she was not interested in post-secondary education and had to go on a sabbatical in suburban Malibu, California, after the scandal broke. She has since returned to her social media platforms.
In fact, Jade posted a preview of the “Red Table Talk” episode for her 1.2 million Instagram followers. She included this caption as gratitude to Pinkett Smith, her daughter Willow and mother Adrienne Banfield Norris for enabling her to tell her story.
“Thank you @jadapinkettsmith @adriennebanfieldnorris @willowsmith for bringing me to the table so I can publicly share my experience for the first time.”
Flip the page to check out a preview of Olivia Jade’s testimony on “Red Table Talk.” The show is scheduled to air on Facebook on Tuesday at noon.
