John Stamos: I Was on Phone With Lori Loughlin When College Admissions Scandal Broke

Before leaping to Lori Loughlin’s defense, John Stamos in his new memoir (order it here) reveals that he was on the phone with his Full House costar as the infamous college admissions imbroglio became national news.

In March 2019, TV’s Aunt Becky was implicated in Operation Varsity Blues, eventually resulting in a two-month prison sentence, a $150,000 fine and 100 hours of mandated community service. In If You Would Have Told Me, her former TV hubby says that he first was made aware of the scandal when he received a text from former Blind Date host (and “good friend”) Roger Lodge asking if Loughlin was “okay.” He then phoned Loughlin, who was on a film set and seemingly unfazed.

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“‘Oh that, yeah, I’m not sure,’ she answers so casually as if I just asked her if Nicky and Alex finished all their vegetables,” Stamos divulges in Chapter 19 of his tell-all. “‘I have seen some emails lately from lawyers to [my husband Mossimo Giannulli], but I stay out of it.'”

It was then that Stamos claims that he heard an “odd clicking sound on the phone line. When I asked her about it, she again adopts her laissez-faire tone. ‘Oh, they may be bugging my phone,'” she told him. “I hang up as fast as I can.” Shortly thereafter, he turned on his TV and saw an FBI agent announcing “the largest college admissions scandal ever handled by the Department of Justice, involving bribes to prestigious colleges for falsified student acceptances.

“Turn on the TV Lori, now!” he texted her. “There’s a big press conference happening.”

When she asked “what channel,” he responded in all caps: “EVERY CHANNEL!”

Loughlin was promptly fired by Hallmark Channel (where she starred on the popular primetime drama When Calls the Heart) and written out of Netflix’s Fuller House (receiving only a passing mention in its fifth and final season). But in his book, Stamos applauds his former TV wife for weathering the storm.

“I’ve witnessed moments where giving up could have been the easiest way out for Lori,” he writes. “She could have shifted the blame and let her family, marriage, and life crumble. But she didn’t. I’m not sure I could have taken the hit she did with the resilience she showed.

“No matter how hard she was hit, how desperate every one was to cancel her and throw her in with the pile of brutal criminals, she stood fast, protecting her daughters from the mud hurled at them day after day after day…. She managed to get up every morning, then got down on her knees and prayed to keep her family together. She did the same every night. And in between, she mostly fought to stay alive. Regardless of how dire the situation became, Lori’s resolve and faith only strengthened.”

Loughlin returned to acting in 2021, first appearing in the When Calls the Heart spinoff When Hope Calls. Her next TV-movie, Great American Family’s A Christmas Blessing, airs Sunday, Nov. 12

John Stamos: If You Would Have Told Me is out in hardcover now. An audiobook is also available.

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