In rare TV interview, Lori Loughlin says she felt 'broken' after admissions scandal

In her first television interview since going to prison for paying half a million dollars in bribes to get her two daughters into the University of Southern California, Lori Loughlin opened up about how she felt after the college admissions scandal.

Over the weekend, Loughlin appeared in a KTLA-5 TV special for Project Angel Food, a Los Angeles-based organization that prepares and delivers healthful meals to people in need. The former "Full House" star has been volunteering with Project Angel Food since completing her prison sentence in December 2020.

"That's what Project Angel Food is: working with people who have hit a low in their life," Loughlin said during the "Lead With Love 3" telecast.

"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. ... I'm so proud to be here and working with this organization because they really do care. ... It's more than just feeding people. It's about loving people and helping people."

While "Lead With Love" featured Loughlin's first TV interview since her conviction, it doesn't count as her first TV appearance. Last year, the actor reprised her role as Abigail Stanton in "When Hope Calls," a spinoff of the popular Hallmark series "When Calls the Heart." Loughlin returned to the small screen two years after Hallmark severed ties with her following her arrest.

More active in the entertainment industry than Loughlin in recent years is her influencer daughter, Olivia Jade, who became emblematic of the admissions scandal and has since attempted to rebrand herself by speaking publicly about her journey on "Red Table Talk" and "Dancing With the Stars."

“After [the admissions scandal] happened, I did step back from social media and just soak in what everybody was saying,” Jade said after joining the Season 30 cast of "DWTS" in September.

“I’m not trying to pull a pity card, but I just need to move forward and do better.”

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.