Two years after dropping out of college following the infamous college admissions scandal, Olivia Jade is set to compete on the next season ofDancing with the Stars. Jade, the daughter ofFull Housestar Lori Loughlin, has reportedly joined the cast of season 30 alongside other celebrity contestants like pop star JoJo Siwa andThe Real Housewives of Atlanta’s Kenya Moore. E! News and TMZ have reportedly confirmed the development though ABC has yet to comment.
Per E! News,Olivia Jadeheads into the competition with no dance experience as a way of “taking her life into her own hands, learning from past mistakes and challenging herself in new areas.” This refers to her attachment to the 2019 college admissions scandal when her parents were criminally charged using bribery to get Jade and her sister enrolled at USC. Both Loughlin and husband Mossimo Giannulli spent time in prison for the crime and their daughters have both since left the college.
“There is no justifying or excusing what happened because what happened was wrong,” Jade said of the scandal onJada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talkback in December. “And I think every single person in my family can be like, that was messed up. That was a big mistake. But I think 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. I’m 21, I feel like I deserve a second chance to redeem myself, to show I’ve grown.”
In a video posted to TikTok in March, Jade recalled speaking about the subject with a “very inspirational woman” and added: “We were talking about being publicly shamed and I was like, ‘Well, my situation doesn’t even compare, I’m not even going to start to compare it to yours.’ And she looked at me and said, ‘Olivia, it doesn’t matter if I’m drowning in 60 ft. of water and you’re drowning in 30, we’re both still drowning.'”
“I think about that quote everyday because it’s so true and such a bigger message to our world right now. I think we’re all very quick to judge. I think we’re all very quick to put people down,” she said. “If yourfeelings are hurting[and] if they’re valid to you, they’re valid. It doesn’t matter if someone is going through worse, you’re allowed to have a hard time in this world. But that doesn’t take away from somebody else, and that shouldn’t take away from you. We’re all human beings.”
Season 30 ofDancing with the Starsis scheduled to premiere on Sept. 20, 2021. The full cast will be revealed onGood Morning Americaon Sept. 8. This news comes to us fromE! News.
