Life is all about second chances. People make mistakes, and they should be able to learn from them to become better. But when your major stumble ends up on the front page of the majority of newspapers in the world, that second chance becomes a harder reality to grasp.
Olivia Jade was at the forefront of the Operation Varsity Blues college admissions scandal in 2019. The scandal put multiple wealthy families in the limelight after the FBI found that these families were bribing prestigious universities for their children to be admitted.
Remember those staged rowing pictures? Who knew all you had to do was to pose on a boat and then you would be on your way to the University of Southern California? As long as there was a hefty check attached to it, your spot would be guaranteed.
Since 2019, Jade — a social media influencer — has been trying to bounce back and rebrand her image. She first took nearly a year off of social media to begin her rebrand. Her parents went through legal battles because of their roles in the admissions scandal. Her mother Lori Loughlin, known for her part in the shows “Full House” and “A Mother’s Rage,” was sentenced to two months, while Jade’s fashion designer father, Mossimo Giannulli, was released early from his original five-month sentence.
She started off her comeback with a Youtube video, “hi again,” and then appeared for her first interview on the Facebook show, Red Table Talk, hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith along with her daughter Willow and mother Adrienne Banfield Norris. On the show, Jade made it clear that she was apologetic and wanted to become a better person.
Jade has continued posting in effort to rebrand herself from that privileged girl that the world knew her as. Most recently, she was added onto the season 30 cast of “Dancing with the Stars” where she was partnered with my favorite pro-dancer, Val Chmerkovskiy.
I was initially frustrated with her addition to the cast. It seemed to me that she was profiting off the scandal to get on television, and even her partner admitted on Jade’s recent podcast that he was left uneasy at first.
As a Dancing with the Stars fan, I was surprised by their choice to include her onto the cast and was selfishly annoyed that she was paired with Chmerkovskiy. But in regards to Dancing with the Stars, it was the smartest move they could have made. People may not want to watch Jade on the show, but fans like me were still going to tune in for Chmerkovskiy.
As the weeks of competition went by, Jade just kept showing up. She works hard, she’s fun to watch and her partner Chmerkovskiy has become a solid cheerleader for her. As a viewer, I can tell that he believes in her, which likely plays into the votes that kept her on for so long.
Jade was eliminated in the quarter-finals Monday night, along with Jimmie Allen.
If Jade made it that far, does that mean she is starting to get that second chance? Week after week she showed up and worked hard — something that makes a difference for me.
People make mistakes, but some are bigger than others. Jade was involved in a big mistake that infuriated the nation. She was the poster child for privilege and has a long road ahead of her to gain back any type of respect.
But if she is gaining the respect of Chmerkovskiy, then maybe she has a chance to show the world that she is more than the fake, privileged rower that we saw in Operation Varsity Blues.
