He’s got a lot to say. Gilles Marini didn’t hold back when asked about the nationwide college admissions cheating scandal, which saw actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, among dozens of others, named and charged for their alleged parts in the scam.
“You know, to be honest, this is nothing new, I’ve been hearing stuff like this for a long time,” the Devious Maids alum, 43, explained to Us Weekly at the grand opening of The Barbershop Cuts and Cocktails at The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas on Friday, March 15. “Especially with athletes.”
Marini noted that the headline-making scandal itself isn’t shocking, but “what’s shocking to me, what’s disturbing, is that a lot of kids out there that try everything they can to get in, and they don’t get accepted.”
The Sex and the City actor — who shares teenage daughter Juliana and son Georges with his wife, Carole — went on to detail his thoughts about who is to blame. “At the end of the day, the fault is clearly 50/50,” Marini told Us. “Someone has the means and the college entices, ‘Hey, if you give us something, we can maybe do this.’”
However, Marini added that perhaps it’s a bribe any parent would make. “Maybe it’s 60/40, because when you have money and you love your kids, maybe you’re going to make that mistake,” he said. “I know it’s not ethical, I’m not going to throw any rocks [at Lori Loughlin], but I think these massive corporations, the education system here, making sure that if you don’t go to college, you don’t have a life. And that’s wrong, education is not meant for that. It’s wrong, it’s wrong.”
Shortly after Loughlin, her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, and Huffman were indicted for their alleged parts in the scandal, Marini took to social media to make light of the alleged bribes that helped their children get into prestigious universities, including USC.
“Just cracking a joke on this nightmare, but it’s a very old problem in American private education,” he captioned an Instagram photo of himself holding a $1 bill next to his daughter, who sported a USC sweatshirt. “Maybe it’s time for a real change for the kids who are working hard to have a better future. Stop the BS.”
The Full House alum, 54, and the fashion designer, 55, have both since been arrested and released on $1 million bonds each. Loughlin and Giannulli share daughters Bella, 20, and Olivia Jade, 19, who reportedly won’t return to the University of Southern California following their parents’ involvement.
Huffman, 56, for her part — who shares daughters Sofia, 18, and Georgia, 17, with husband William H. Macy — was taken into custody and released on a $250,000 bond.
With reporting by Rick Egusquiza
