Actor John Stamos has defended his former "Full House" co-star Lori Loughlin, saying she only played a minor part in the college admissions scandal.
Stamos, who has been tight-lipped on Loughlin's involvement in the scam, broke his silence this week during an interview with Dax Shepard for his "Armchair Expert" podcast.
"You said some really nice stuff about her," Stamos told Shepard. "We talked last night about you. It was something that you were saying about how you hate when people bring her up because if you defend her, then people get mad. If you don't defend her, then you feel bad because she's a great person."
In 2019 Loughlin was sentenced to two months in prison, and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, got five months, for paying half a million dollars in bribes to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California as rowing recruits. Loughlin and Giannulli pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud.
Loughlin also was ordered to pay a $150,000 fine and complete 100 hours of community service while undergoing two years of supervised release. Giannulli was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine, complete 250 hours of community service, and undergo two years of supervised release.
"She wasn't really the architect of any of it," Stamos said of the scandal. "She was in the way background. She didn't know what was going on."
Stamos also noted that Loughlin had tried to make amends.
"She also paid a lot of money. She set up a college fund for kids and she went to f***ing jail, man," he said.
Earlier this year. Loughlin opened up about life after the scandal, saying there have been times when she has felt "down and broken." She made the revelation during a telethon aired on KTLA in July while discussing the work she has done over the past year and a half with nonprofit organization Project Angel Food, which provides free meals to those who are unable to cook or shop for themselves.
"It is a community, it is a family, and all the people that work here are so wonderful," Loughlin said. "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."