The Moment
Three months after announcing the end of their nearly 28-year marriage, Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli are still in that awkward in-between stage: officially separated, reportedly furious, and not yet divorced.
According to a January 2026 report from a celebrity weekly magazine, the former Full House star is said to be “still extremely angry” with her estranged husband. Another outlet quoted a source saying he wants everything handled quietly and still sees Lori as a “lovely person” and “an incredible mom” to their daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose.
The pair announced in October that they were separating after nearly three decades together, following years of fallout from their role in the 2019 college admissions scandal. Despite that public split, there’s been no divorce filing reported so far.
Behind the scenes, unnamed insiders have painted a picture of a marriage that never really recovered from the “Varsity Blues” case. One source has claimed Lori found “incriminating” texts on his phone after they both served prison time, calling it the “tipping point.” Another has said she feels he “got her involved” in the scheme and allegedly “spearheaded it” – feelings she reportedly never got over.
Meanwhile, he’s been spotted occasionally out with a much younger female friend, while Lori has stayed mostly under the radar and, if these reports are accurate, quietly seething.
The Take
Honestly? This sounds less like a split and more like a slow-motion emotional evacuation of a house that already burned down.
On paper, Lori and Mossimo did their time, listed the mansion, announced the separation, and tried to move on. But when a marriage has weathered a full-blown federal scandal, public shame, prison, and then alleged betrayal on top of it? You don’t just sign a few papers and call it healed.
I’m not surprised she’s reportedly furious. She went from America’s sitcom sweetheart to the face of a bribery scandal, and whether you think that’s fair or not, the public tended to pin the moral outrage on her more than on him. That’s how it so often goes: the woman carries the scarlet letter, while the man gets a shorter headline and a quicker exit.
The anonymous sources now say she feels he “used” her for years and never changed after prison. If that’s even partly true, it tracks with something a lot of women recognize in far less dramatic circumstances: you stand next to someone through the storm, then wake up and realize you’re the one still mopping the floor while they’re already out the door.
At the same time, the reported difference in tone is striking. Her side: anger, resentment, done. His side, via sources: she’s wonderful, he wants everything “quiet.” That reads like two people playing entirely different games. She seems to be done with the PR gloss; he allegedly still wants a tidy narrative.
This is celebrity divorce in the age of reputational rehab: everyone wants to be seen as gracious, but no one wants to be the villain. Except real life is messier than a Hallmark movie. Even when you’ve left the courtroom, the scandal can stay parked in your living room – in this case, for years.
If anything, Lori’s reported anger feels… human. You can rebuild a career. You can sell the mansion. But trying to forgive someone you believe dragged you into a life-imploding scandal and then allegedly betrayed you again? That isn’t a legal process; that’s a long, ugly untangling of identity, trust, and regret.
Think of it this way: serving their prison sentences was like finishing the punishment. This stage – the separation with unresolved rage, the estate listings, the leaks to the press – is them trying to decide who gets custody of the story. And right now, it sounds like Lori is not interested in a joint narrative.
Receipts
Confirmed:
- In 2020, Loughlin and Giannulli pleaded guilty in federal court to paying $500,000 in bribes to get their daughters into the University of Southern California as rowing recruits, according to court records.
- She served roughly two months in prison; he served about five months, as documented in federal filings and widely reported at the time.
- The couple had been married for nearly 28 years before announcing their split in October, per public statements and coverage by a New York-based celebrity news outlet.
- They share two daughters, influencer Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose, both now in their mid-to-late 20s.
- The pair listed their Hidden Hills, California home for around $16.5 million in early 2025, according to real estate reporting cited by entertainment media.
- As of mid-January 2026, no divorce filing has been reported in public records or by reputable outlets.
Unverified / Reported by Anonymous Sources:
- That Lori is “still extremely angry” with Mossimo, described by an unnamed source to a celebrity weekly magazine in January 2026.
- That he “wants everything resolved quietly” and calls her a “lovely person” and “incredible mom,” also attributed to an anonymous source.
- That the “tipping point” for the split was Lori allegedly discovering “incriminating” text messages on his phone after their prison stints, according to a source quoted by a New York-based outlet in October.
- That Mossimo allegedly “used Lori for years” and “got her involved” in the admissions scheme and “spearheaded it,” as claimed by unnamed insiders in entertainment magazine reports.
- That the school scandal was the key turning point from which their relationship “never really recovered,” per another anonymous source.
- That he has been seen spending time with a much-younger female friend; this has been reported but not addressed publicly by either Lori or Mossimo.
All of the unverified details above come from unnamed sources speaking to entertainment magazines and celebrity news outlets; neither Lori nor Mossimo has gone on the record confirming those specific claims.
Backstory (For Casual Readers)
If you lost track of this saga after the memes, here’s the quick rewind. Lori Loughlin – Aunt Becky from Full House and a longtime Hallmark regular – and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli (yes, the Target brand guy), were swept up in the 2019 “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal.
Prosecutors said they paid half a million dollars to get their daughters into USC by falsely presenting them as rowing recruits. In 2020, both pleaded guilty. Lori served about two months in prison, paid a fine, and did community service; Mossimo served about five months. Their daughters, especially Olivia Jade, took heavy public heat online as well.
Afterward, Lori’s once-wholesome image took a huge hit. Some of her acting gigs disappeared, and she’s been slowly stepping back into work. The couple sold properties and tried to keep a lower profile. But legally surviving a scandal and emotionally surviving it are two different things – and their marriage appears to have buckled under that weight, plus whatever else was happening behind closed doors.
What’s Next
In practical terms, the next big shoe to drop would be an actual divorce filing. Nearly 28 years of marriage, shared assets, and two adult daughters means there’s a lot to untangle: real estate, finances, and how they want their public image to look when the dust finally settles.
If the reporting is accurate and Lori really wants “nothing to do with” him, a formal split feels more like a “when” than an “if.” But the fact they’ve taken months without filing suggests one of three things: they’re quietly negotiating, they’re in emotional gridlock, or they’re trying to avoid another burst of headlines until everything is lined up.
Career-wise, Lori has been edging back into the industry, and this new wave of personal drama could either complicate that or, oddly, humanize her to some viewers who see a woman trying to claw back her life after a disastrous chapter. For Mossimo, who’s lower profile day-to-day, the biggest shift may come in how he’s framed if and when she ever tells her side more openly.
Either way, this doesn’t look like a clean, Gwyneth-style “conscious uncoupling.” It looks like two people who survived the same wreck but walked away with completely different stories about who was behind the wheel.
Sources: January 19-20, 2026 reporting from a New York-based celebrity news outlet; January 2026 and October 2025 coverage in two national entertainment magazines quoting unnamed sources; 2020 federal court records and contemporaneous news reports on the “Varsity Blues” college admissions case.
Your turn: When a partner’s actions blow up your life – scandal or not – do you think holding onto anger slows healing, or is it sometimes a necessary part of finally moving on?
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