Lori Loughlin Detailed Relationship With Daughters Before College Admissions Scandal: ‘I Am Not Their Friend’

Before she was embroiled in a bribery scandal on Tuesday, Full House star Lori Loughlin gave an interview about her parenting style, revealing she is not her children’s “friend.”

Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, were among 33 wealthy parents arrested on Tuesday in connection with a college admission bribery scam. Adding insult to injury, Loughlin’s daughter, Olivia Jade Giannulli, is a prominent social media influencer, who has told her followers she doesn’t “care about school.” Loughlin does, however, judging by her 2016 interview with Us Weekly.

“Listen, I am not their friend,” Loughlin said at the time of Olivia and her older daughter, Bella. “I am here. I am their mother. I’m here to guide them, and I think that is first and foremost. Look, I try to instill good values and be a good person, and for the most part, I have to say that my girls, they are good people. They are good people. They have good hearts.”

Loughlin went on to describe a delicate balance between strictness and patience. She remarked about the difficulty of being hands off at times, and how she always wanted to be available to help them if they needed it.

“I would say that I am loving but that I am firm,” she said. “I would say that … I am available, and they have access to me. I am involved, but I am not hovering. I’m there to guide. I think I’m funny, but they don’t. But I still make that joke. They kind of roll their eyes at me, but I am funny. I’m funny! And they’re like, ‘No, you’re not.’ But anyways, we have fun. We have a good time together.”

Behind the scenes, Loughlin may have taken her parenting too far, as she now stands accused of paying some huge bribes. According to court documents obtained by CBS News, she and Giannulli “agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters designated as recruits to the USC crew team — despite the fact that they did not participate in crew — thereby facilitating their admission to USC.”

Federal prosecutors made 200 pages of documents on the case available on Tuesday. They noted that evidence against Loughlin and Giannulli included emails arranging the bribes through a college admission consultant named William Rick Singer.

Giannulli was arrested on Tuesday morning at the same time as many others in the case. Loughlin was in Canada at the time, but flew home immediately to turn herself in. So far, she has not made a public statement on the whole scandal.