John Stamos defends Lori Loughlin following college admissions scandal

John Stamos has defended his longtime friend and co-star Lori Loughlin following her involvement in the college admissions scandal.

The actress spent two months in jail in late 2020 after she and her husband Mossimo Giannulli pleaded guilty to paying $500,000 (£420,000) in bribes to help their daughters get into the University of Southern California (USC) as members of the rowing team, even though neither of them had played the sport.

During an appearance on Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard earlier this week, John minimised his Full House co-star's role in the scandal and insisted she has made amends for her mistake.

"I am going to say this, and she said I could. She wasn't really the architect of any of it - she was in the way background," he explained. "She didn't know what was going on."

He added that she has paid the price for her actions, saying, "She also paid a lot of money. She set up a college fund for kids and she went to f**king jail man."

The 59-year-old also praised Dax for the "really nice stuff" he has said about Lori in the wake of the scandal.

"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," John said.

Lori was released from prison in December 2020. She was also sentenced to two years of supervised release and 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay a $150,000 (£126,000) fine.

Her husband was sentenced to five months in jail, a $250,000 (£210,000) fine, and 250 hours of community service.