Been there, done that. Teresa Giudice shared her two cents on Lori Loughlin’s case as the actress faces potential prison time for her alleged involvement in the college admissions scandal.
“I’m sure she’ll make it through,” the Real Housewives of New Jersey star, 47, told Entertainment Tonight in an interview published on Thursday, November 14. “I feel women are strong. We have babies, we do it all. I’m sure whatever outcome it is, I’m sure she’ll be fine with it.”
Giudice then justified Loughlin’s reasoning for allegedly paying $500,000 to gain her daughters entry into the University of Southern California. “Her daughters are older. … You know, she did it for her daughters, and, I mean, her daughters are grateful for what she did,” she said. “She was just looking out for her daughters and trying to get them into a good school. But I guess that’s it, just be open with them, and whatever the outcome is, it is. You have to deal with it and move forward.”
The reality star and husband Joe Giudice pleaded guilty to 41 counts of fraud in March 2014. Teresa completed her 11-month prison sentence in December 2015. Joe, meanwhile, began his 41-month sentence in March 2016. He was released into ICE custody in March after a judge ordered him to be deported in October 2018. The businessman, 47, relocated to Italy in October as he awaits a final decision in his case.
Loughlin, 55, and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, were indicted in March and pleaded not guilty to fraud and money laundering charges in April. The couple, who are parents of daughters Bella, 21, and Olivia Jade, 20, entered a not guilty plea to additional charges of bribery earlier this month.
“Lori turned the corner and backed out of considering a guilty plea due to her husband’s insistence,” a source told Us Weekly exclusively after the pair’s decision. “She had been talking to her lawyers about it, but her friends and family were encouraging her to pursue a plea deal. She’s only listening to Mossimo though.”
Another insider revealed in October that Loughlin is “absolutely terrified and extremely vulnerable” at this point in her case: “The only hope is that she is acquitted or if she is convicted, the judge will realize the government has been completely overzealous and gives her a very light prison sentence.”
