Lori Loughlin made her first non-acting television appearance since finishing her two-month jail sentence for her role in the 2019 college admissions scandal. The former Full House star took part in Project Angel Food’s Lead with Love 3 telethon, which aired on KTLA in Los Angeles Saturday. Loughlin, 57, didn’t comment on the scandal, instead focusing her comments on her work with Project Angel Food.
The When Calls the Heart star appeared in a pre-filmed clip about the “day in the life” of a Project Angel Food volunteer, notes Entertainment Tonight. Loughlin packed up a car to help deliver food to those in need in Los Angeles County. The organization helps deliver over 1 million tailed meals to people in need annually.
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“I’ve been working with Project Angel Food for a year and a half now, and it’s been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life,” Loughlin said. “I got to work everywhere… packed a lot of cereal, and I’ve packed a lot of fruit. Bags and bags of fruit.”
The best part of volunteering is making the deliveries, Loughlin said. She even developed a connection with the people she helps. “I have the same delivery route, once a week, and I see the same people, and it’s so nice to make that connection with those people. Often, they are unable to leave their homes,” Loughlin said, explaining that some are isolated, especially during the pandemic. Her visits give the people she meets a chance to connect to someone else and have a conversation.
The segment also included an interview with one of the women Loughlin has helped. The closest Loughlin came to referencing the college admissions scandal came when she said the community she created with Project Angel Food was there when she felt “particularly down and broken.”
“It is a community, it is a family, and all the people that work here are so wonderful,” Loughlin said of Project Angel Food. “They have welcomed me with such open arms at a time when I was feeling particularly down and broken. That’s how I found a home here, and that’s what I feel like they did for me, and that’s why I’m so proud to be here and working with this organization because they really do care. It’s really a community.”
The telethon helped raise almost $1.2 million. Richard Gere, Sharon Stone, and Whoopi Goldberg also participated, while Josh Groban, Debbie Gibson, and others performed. “It’s more than just feeding people, it’s about loving people and helping people. And I think, that is so important, and I am so proud to be a part of Project Angel Food,” Loughlin said.
In March 2019, federal prosecutors announced the findings of Operation Varsity Blues, which discovered that wealthy parents were paying William Rick Singer millions of dollars to help their children fraudulently get acceptance into colleges. Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, paid $500,000 in bribes to get their daughters Isabella Rose and Olivia Jade into the University of Southern California as crew recruits, even though they didn’t participate in the sport. They pleaded guilty in May 2020. Loughlin was sentenced to two months in jail, a $150,000 fine, and 150 hours of community service. Giannulli was sentenced to five months in jail, a $250,000 fine, and 250 hours of community service.
Loughlin finished her prison sentence in December 2020. Hallmark Channel fired her from When Calls the Heart and she missed the last season of Netflix’s Fuller House. Loughlin made her first post-scandal acting appearanceย in GAC Family’s When Hope Calls Season 2 in December 2021. ย
