We are on what feels like Day 170 of the big Rich People Cheat Their Way Into College revelation (FACT CHECK: we are on day seven), and so far, we have learned that a) rich people are very good at flouting the rules for themselves and b) Olivia Jade did not much care for book learning. That latter point has now been reiterated by a former classmate of Jade’s, another YouTube person who decided to “share a little bit of [her] tea” re: Operation Varsity Blues.
According to People, the tea-spiller in question is one Harlow Brooks, another teen beauty blogger/YouTube personality (what in the HELL is going on in Los Angeles???). In a video posted last week, Brooks said she briefly attended a fancy Los Angeles private school with Jade, but was not particularly wowed by her academic prowess.
“When this whole cheating scandal came out, I’m not going to say I was surprised because we are in that world,” she said. Neither Jade nor her sister, Isabella Giannulli, struck Brooks as USC material, thus, I assume, why mother Lori Loughlin allegedly spent $500,000 to sneak the two of them in. Per People:“I remember when I was touring the school I saw a picture of Olivia Jade’s sister actually on the wall with the seniors and it was like, ‘Congratulations Bella for getting into USC!’” she said. “And I was like, Wow … USC is super hard to get into.”
“Then I remember hearing later that Olivia had also gotten into USC and I was like, Whoa, that’s kind of crazy because USC is very extremely hard to get into. So not only one sister, but both of them,” Brooks added.
Apparently, the high school Brooks and Jade attended was incredibly difficult and high-pressured (not to mention, expensive) and Brooks didn’t understand how Jade managed to do well enough there to gain admission to a selective university when she was so busy building up her YouTube brand. “I would have to get up at 6:00 a.m. every morning and I would leave school at 4:00 p.m. and then I would have six hours of homework,” Brooks said. “It made me think, ‘How is she doing this?’”
It turned out, of course, that she was “doing this” by cheating, very badly and blatantly. Still, I can’t help but feel slightly sorry for Jade, who clearly just wanted to sell highlighter palettes and probably could have done it successfully for a long time, had her parents not wanted her to fulfill their dream of obtaining a college degree. Now, her highlighter palettes are gone. On the other hand, she has learned a very valuable lesson about scams. See, college is useful!
[People]
Once upon a time, I owned Leonardo DiCaprio’s unauthorized biography, and I read it every single night. The year was 1997, and the biography was very short. Since the third grade, my taste in men has changed considerably—though I once liked blond pretty boys, now I prefer aging men who Juul outside gas stations and talk about the time they saw Kurt Vile live.
Here are those men:
I was told I should make fun of this poster, but honestly I’m just impressed Quentin Tarantino was able to make a film that is set simultaneously in 1969 and in my 2019 Tinder algorithm. Please, someone pay for my therapy.
- Lala Kent on how AA has helped her stay sober. [Hollywood Life]
- Mama June has been charged with a felony after allegedly getting busted with crack cocaine paraphernalia. [Page Six]
- I need Dane Cook and his teen girlfriend to stop with this. [People]