Olivia Jade Owns Up to Her White Privilege in Tense ‘Red Table Talk’ Interview

Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli’s daughter Olivia Jade is finally ready to open up about the infamous college admissions scandal. After 18 months of silence, Olivia Jade sat down with the ladies of Red Table Talk for a revealing discussion about white privilege, her parents’ respective prison sentences, and the lessons she has learned from the headline-making controversy. “What happened was wrong, and I think every single person in my family can be like, ‘That was messed up. That was a big mistake,'” said the 21-year-old. “What’s so important to me is to learn from the mistake. Not to now be shamed and punished and never given a second chance.”

Red Table Talk typically dives right into its celebrity interviews, but Olivia Jade’s episode began with a verbal disclaimer from “Gammy” Adrienne Banfield Norris, who made her disdain for their guest clear. “I find it really ironic that she chose three Black women to reach out to for her redemption story,” said Gammy. “It’s bothersome to me on so many levels. Her being here is the epitome of white privilege to me!”

With Gammy’s objection officially noted in the Red Table Talk record, Jada Pinkett Smith moved on with the day’s programming, and a few seconds later, a visibly nervous Olivia Jade approached the table to bare her soul. “I’m definitely ready to address some things, and I can’t think of a better place,” said the YouTuber, adding that the controversy has “led her to have a completely different outlook” on life. “I wanted to be somewhere where I didn’t feel attacked and maybe I could feel more understood.”

Olivia Jade explained that she hasn’t talked to either of her parents since they began their federal prison sentences, but she believes that the experience will be good for both of them. “I think it’s necessary for us to move on, and move forward,” she said. She added that she believes her mother, in particular, will see her two-month sentence as “a good reflection period” on the past few years. “I know that it’s a positive that she’s in there right now. She gets to really rethink everything that happened,” said Olivia Jade. “Figure out, when she comes out, what she wants to do with what she’s learned through all of this. I think that, hopefully, will be a blessing in the end.”

Loughlin and Giannulli pleaded guilty to conspiracy in May 2020 to paying $500,000 to have their daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose Giannulli, admitted to the University of Southern California as rowing recruits, despite the two never participating in the sport. Loughlin is currently serving a two-month sentence in a California federal prison, while Giannulli is serving a five-month term.

“I’m not trying to victimize myself. I don’t want pity. I don’t deserve pity,” Olivia Jade told the Red Table Talk hosts. “We messed up. I just want a second chance to be like, ‘I recognize that I messed up.'”

Olivia Jade went on to say that the scandal forced her to confront her own privilege, because at the time, she “didn’t realize” why people were upset that she had been admitted to USC under false pretenses. However, she has since come to realize that “because of [her] skin color,” she “already had a foot in the door and was already ahead of everybody else.” She added that in her “bubble,” donating large sums to schools or working with admissions counselors was “normal,” but she now sees that as a privilege afforded to exclusively to the wealthy.

Of course, Gammy wouldn’t let Olivia Jade off that easy. “Do you understand why different people in the community would be upset? Do you have any understanding of why I would be upset at your being here and what you all did?” she asked. “There is so much violent dehumanization that the Black community has to go through on a daily basis … There’s just so much inequality and inequity that when you come to the table with something like this, it’s like, ‘Child, please.'”

“I’m exhausted. I’m exhausted with everything that we have to deal with as a community, and I just don’t have the energy to put into the fact that you lost your endorsements,” she continued. “At the end of the day, you’re going to be okay … It just makes it very difficult, right now, for me to care.”

“I didn’t come on here to win people over or say, ‘Oh, I really want people to like me,'” replied Olivia Jade. “I just want to apologize for contributing to these social inequalities, even though I maybe didn’t realize it at the time. Being able to come here and recognize that I am aware.”

Olivia Jade added that it’s “embarrassing” that she walked around for 20 years without realizing that she has “insane privilege” as the daughter of two very wealthy, white parents. “You’re like the poster child of white privilege, and you had no idea,” she said. “What was important was for me to come here and say, ‘I’m sorry. I acknowledge what was wrong’ … I took my privilege and all my blessings for granted, and I never thought anything of it. That’s what really rocked me.”

Watch Olivia Jade’s Red Table Talk interview is available to stream on Facebook Watch.

Where to stream Red Table Talk