Lori Loughlin: Will her return to TV be a success after time behind bars?

Lori Loughlin, famous for her role in the ABC sitcom, 'Full House’ and its Netflix sequel, ‘Fuller House’ has been in the spotlight in recent years less for her acting and more for her personal ventures. The woman who spent months in prison is making her return to the screen after being dropped from both Netflix and Hallmark in 2019. But has enough time passed for this actress to make a successful comeback?

Her first acting role - after the fraud scandal she was involved in - is for the GAC Family network production ‘When Hope Calls’. It is a two-part special entitled ‘A Country Christmas’ where Loughlin reprises the role of Abigail Stanton - the role she was portraying in ‘When Calls the Heart’ - at the time she was arrested.

Lori Loughlin’s face was plastered all over the press in 2019 when she, along with her husband and a total of 50 people were charged for fraud and bribery. The FBI and U.S. Attourney’s Office uncovered a college entrance exam cheating scandal. One that Lori Loughlin and her husband were tied up in.

The couple were accused of paying $500,000 to Key Worldwide Foundation, but it certainly was not a donation. The University of Southern California’s admissions committee, lead by ringleader Rick Singer, then falsely designated their daughters Olivia and Bella to the women’s rowing team, but neither had ever practiced the sport and had no intention of doing so.

NBC News reported that, according to federal investigators, Loughlin and Giannulli went as far as to ‘pose their daughters [pictured] on rowing machines for photos submitted with their admissions application.’

They pleaded guilty to fraud in May 2020 and were finally sentenced in August 2020. Loughlin was sentenced to two months behind bars and husband Mossimo Giannulli to five months. They also had to pay a totalled fine of $400,000, and there was 150 hours of community service for the actress, whilst her husband was sentenced to 250 hours.

Loughlin’s sentence began on December 28 2020, but it wasn’t just the prison sentence that the TV star struggled with. Due to the pandemic, she also had her visiting rights suspended.

Her return to the screen has been a shock for many, not only for the past indictment but for the fact that her sentence continues. Lori is still on a two year supervised release from the FCI Dublin prison in Northern California. A supervision that won’t end until December 2022.

Acting wasn’t the first thing Lori Loughlin did fresh out of jail. Lori and her fashion designer husband came out and immediately started looking for a home, initially in Idaho to ‘get away from it all’ and ‘reconnect’.

A source told the Daily Mail that, 'They had looked at homes earlier this year in Idaho and were prepared to move out of Los Angeles, but eventually decided to stay as their daughters really wanted them close by at the time.’

So, the couple, after spending millions on their daughter’s entrance to University, school fees and state fines, dropped a cool $13million to buy a new home in the gated Madison Club, Palm Desert, California. The five bedroom home is pretty impressive and comes equipped with a number of different terrace areas, two pools, two spas and an outdoor theatre. Life seemed to be returning to ‘normal’ for Loughlin.

Photo: @quinnenterprisesinc

Loughlin and her husband were where they wanted to be, close to their daughters. The two girls, Olivia and Bella have previously spoken out about the indictment and defended their mother. One particular moment the girls came to their mother’s defence was when they both appeared on Olivia’s podcast, Conversations with Olivia Jade.

"I think just the hardest part of this entire thing was watching how horrible, or reading or seeing, how horrible the media was to both you (Olivia) and mom. And actually knowing you guys and knowing mom has the biggest heart," Bella, 23, explained.

"I don't think one person who's ever worked with mom can say something bad about her because she's genuinely the nicest person alive," Loughlin’s eldest daughter continued.

Bella’s younger sister, Olivia, 22, added "There are a lot of people that were in this case and a lot of other parents and I don't know one other person's name… I think that was hard for me too. I'm not trying to justify or excuse behavior or throw a pity party. ... I do very heavily relate to those feelings that you were just saying about mom.”

Loughlin’s youngest daughter, Olivia Jade is an influencer and YouTube star. She entered ‘Dancing with the Stars’ this year and received the highest score of the season, being described as ‘genuine’ and ‘infectious’. But, at the time of the charge against her mother, she also faced furious backlash.

Photo: ABC

She had taken to Youtube to admit that she ‘didn't really care about school' and only wanted to go for football games and parties. The responses were less-than-kind. A rather expensive price her mother had to pay for the privilege of football games and parties.

PHoto: Youtube Olivia Jade

She reflected that the "thingy thing with our family” affected the sisters’ mental health and, although that was tough, they wanted to ‘take what you've been through and learn from that’. “We both have a really clear perspective ... we can just say we're in the wrong," Olivia said.

Lori, with her sisters and husband behind her, has taken back some of her life, moved on and returned to set. It seems she has been welcomed back with open arms. An insider told Us Weekly that the people on set are “very excited to have Lori back… The crew is aware of the scandal she went through but strongly believes she deserves a second chance.”

Photo: GAC Family

If you look at the public’s reaction on social media, there are many that do not agree with the belief she deserves a second chance. One YouTube user stated, “This goes to show you if you're worth billions of dollars you can get away with anything and get your job back” (Timothy Kramer) and his sentiment is shared by many who have made similar comments on the teaser video from ‘When Hope Calls’.

Of course, there are many who are thrilled to see the actress return. Another user wrote on social media, “So happy both "Abby" and "Cody " are back… and for those complaining about Lori, 1ST she did her time, 2nd both shows whc and wcth are all about second chances and forgiveness…” (Juanita T).

The Hallmark Channel spinoff premiered on December 18th on GAC Family. Not Hallmark. The channel is making it very clear that they still have nothing to do with Lori Loughlin. They released a statement to Showbiz Cheat Sheet stating, "Hallmark Channel has not cast Lori Loughlin in any current projects, including When Calls the Heart, nor do we have any plans to cast her in the future. She was cast by GAC Family, a wholly separate cable network not affiliated with Hallmark Channel or Crown Media Family Networks."

Photo: GAC Family

Is there more in store for the actress? Has Lori Loughlin managed to shake off her past, been forgiven by others, forgiven herself and return to the screen successfully after time behind bars? Reviving her role in a spinoff is one thing, but the real tell will be what happens after. Us Weekly’s insider reports that “There have already been conversations about future projects with her down the line.” Will hope call?