'Full House' star Lori Loughlin says she felt 'down and broken' in first TV interview since college admissions scandal

• Lori Loughlin made her first appearance on non-scripted TV since the college admissions scandal.
• On KTLA 5, she said she was "down and broken" when she started volunteering at Project Angel Food.

"Full House" star Lori Loughlin said she felt "down and broken" in her first non-acting TV appearance since the college admissions scandal.

On July 23, Loughlin appeared on the Los Angeles-based TV network KTLA 5 to talk about her experience volunteering with Project Angel Food during their Lead With Love 3 special. It was a fundraiser for the organization, which delivers "medically tailored" meals to people with life-threatening illnesses, according to its website.

The former "When Calls The Heart" star said she's been a volunteer with the organization for about a year and a half. She said she does a variety of jobs for them including packing meals and delivering them to homes.

"It is a community, it is a family, and all the people that work here are just so wonderful," Loughlin said about the people at Project Angel Food at about the 49:30 mark of the broadcast below. "They've welcomed me with such open arms at a time when I was feeling particularly down and broken."

She said that she "found a home" there and was visibly emotional when she said, "that's why I'm so proud to be here and working with this organization."

Loughlin said that the work that she's doing is "more than just feeding people, it's about loving people."

The actor served a two-month prison sentence at a medium-security federal correctional institution in Victorville, California, beginning in November 2020 for her part in the college admissions scandal. She and her husband Mossimo Giannulli paid $500,000 to guarantee their daughters Olivia Jade Giannulli and Isabella Giannulli admission to the University of Southern California, as reported by Insider's Kelly McLaughlin.

Loughlin was a part of Victorville's minimum-security camp, meaning she wore a uniform but had access to classes like ceramics, spinning, and Pilates, Insider reported. She was also ordered to pay a $150,000 fine and complete 100 hours of community service. She was also ordered to spend two years on supervised release.

In 2021, Loughlin made her return to scripted television when she reprised her role as Abigail Stanton on the GAC show "When Hope Calls." The show is a spinoff Hallmark's "When Calls The Heart," on which Loughlin played Abigail from 2014 to 2019. She was written off the original show when the college admissions scandal broke.