“Full House” actor Lori Loughlin and her designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, have separated.
The Times confirmed Thursday that the longtime couple “are living apart” but “no legal proceedings are underway,” according to Loughlin’s representative. The news that Loughlin and Giannulli are taking a break from their marriage was first reported by People.
Loughlin and Giannulli have been married for nearly 28 years and share two daughters, including influencer Olivia Jade.
The couple were among the most prominent figures implicated in the Varsity Blues college admission scandal in 2019. Loughlin and Giannulli each pleaded guilty to fraud in 2020 for paying $500,000 to have their daughters gain admission to USC as recruits for the rowing team, even though neither had any experience with the sport. Loughlin was sentenced to 2 months in prison, while Giannulli served 5 months. (Both daughters left the school amid the scandal.)
A familiar face from various television films, Loughlin is best known for portraying Aunt Becky in “Full House,” which originally aired from 1987 to 1995, as well as its 2016 reboot “Fuller House.” She most recently appeared on the Prime Video series “On Call.” Giannulli founded Mossimo, a clothing brand once associated with Target.
Loughlin and Giannulli reportedly listed their L.A. home for sale in February.
A dozen years before he charted a bold, new path for the USC football program, Chad Bowden was living on the pull-out couch of a cramped studio apartment in Hollywood with no clue where his life was headed.
Bowden couldn’t have dreamed up the role he’d one day occupy a few miles down the street at USC, where as the Trojans football general manager, Bowden has infused the program with new energy while putting together the top recruiting class in America.
So how did Bowden rise from that couch to being held up as one of the most consequential arrivals at USC since Pete Carroll himself?
Bowden thought that he might play college football. A few small schools had offered him opportunities to play linebacker coming out of high school in Cincinnati. But Bowden’s father, former baseball general manager Jim Bowden, didn’t think it was the right move. He worried about how his son would handle the rest of the college experience.
“He felt like it was best for me, from a maturity standpoint, to go right into working,” Bowden says.
USC football general manager Chad Bowden looks across the field during preseason camp.
(William Liang/For The Times)
Which is what led him to the tiny apartment off Highland Avenue. He split the place with Jac Collinsworth, his close high school friend, the two of them packed like sardines into a single room that doubled as the kitchen and dining space. Neither seemed to mind the close quarters. Everything became a competition, with each of them pushing the other.
“Both of us were highly motivated guys,” says Collinsworth, whose father is the famed commentator, Cris Collinsworth. “Plus we had [Chad’s] dad in our ear.”
So every morning, they would wake before sunrise to race each other to L.A. Fitness. After, they’d race back up the hill to devour the usual breakfast of egg whites — sometimes mashing in bananas for sweetness. Some days, they’d throw in a motivational video on YouTube to get the blood pumping again, before racing off to try to be the first in the office.
They were both staying up late, getting up early, grinding all day in between. But after a while, it felt to Bowden like he was running in place. He’d tried an internship with a sports agency, only to realize the agency life wasn’t for him. Then he sold Google ads for a company called Linktech, whiling away his days cold-calling strangers who weren’t exactly happy to hear from him. It gave him perspective, he says. But not much else.
It was important to Bowden to find his path as soon as possible. He’d always planned for success at a young age, Jac Collinsworth says. His father, after all, was hired by the Cincinnati Reds as the youngest GM in baseball history back in 1992, and Bowden had practically grown up in that Reds clubhouse. He rode in Ken Griffey Jr’s Lamborghini. He was in the draft rooms, the trade talks, the contract negotiations. Once, he even called out a Reds player’s lack of hustle on the basepaths — and ended up stuffed in a garbage can.
His childhood was intertwined with the game. Even dinnertime could turn on a night’s result. When the Reds won a game, father and son would go out to a local steakhouse for dinner. When they lost, Chad says, they would only eat Triscuits and cheese.
“[Chad] knew that he was going to have to work twice as hard to get that respect from his dad,” Collinsworth says.
As hard as he was working, Bowden didn’t seem to be getting any closer to finding his way in L.A. Evan Dreyer was worried about him.
Dreyer had coached Bowden as a freshman football player at Anderson High in Cincinnati, and they’d stayed in touch since. So when Dreyer was out in L.A., he checked in on his favorite former player.
“Chad needed somebody to look him in the eye and say, ‘What the hell are you doing?’” Dreyer says.
He called Bowden back soon after and offered him a job as his defensive coordinator at Western Brown High, back in Ohio.
Bowden was just 20 years old. He had no coaching experience, aside from filling in for a few weeks as an assistant baseball coach for Dreyer at 14. But Dreyer knew how much Bowden loved football. And he had no doubt that Bowden was bound for great things. He saw it in Bowden even before high school, as early as the fifth grade, when all of the kid’s energy was zeroed in on being the best possible water boy he could be. He sprinted full speed down the sideline to retrieve a loose ball. He didn’t care for school, but memorized the stats of opposing players. It was clear he took pride in the job.
USC general manager Chad Bowden, center, attends a team practice.
(USC Athletics)
But that was when football first swept Bowden up. Now, years later, Dreyer was offering him a chance to get his foot in the door.
“He called me and was like, ‘What are you doing with your life? Football is everything to you.’” Bowden says. “I just kind of sat there and said, ‘What am I doing?”
So took Dreyer up on the offer. The only problem? He had no idea what he was doing as a defensive coordinator.
The team went 1-9. The next year, he followed Dreyer to another high school, and it didn’t get much better. He dialed up blitz after blitz, just hoping for the best. One night, his defense gave up almost 80 points, and a frustrated Bowden was ejected from the game.
Still, he wasn’t one to sit idly by, waiting on a problem to solve itself. Even if there was no obvious — or rational — solution. One week, when his defense gave up over 400 rushing yards, he responded by buying huge tubs of peanut butter, convinced more sandwiches could be the key to bulking up his defensive front.
Once, he babysat for Dreyer’s 3-year old daughter and upon finding out she loved school buses, set out to stop one in the street in order to give her a ride.
There were no half-measures with Bowden, on or off the football field. He preferred to take matters into his own hands if he had to.
“That’s the best way to understand Chad,” Collinsworth said. “He will move a mountain to make something happen.”
He seemed to be in constant motion, attending school at the University of Cincinnati in addition to coaching.
After two seasons coaching high school football, Bowden decided to try a new direction. A friend of his father helped hook him up with an opportunity to shadow the senior vice president of the Miami Dolphins, who eventually helped connect him with Brian Mason, the new recruiting coordinator at Cincinnati.
Mason hired Bowden as a student intern, helping out with Cincinnati’s recruiting. It didn’t take long for him to make an impression on the rest of the staff.
Some staffers, Mason says, were admittedly “thrown off a little bit by his energy” when they first met him. But there was no doubting Bowden’s work ethic as an intern. When Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell gave him a task, coaches remember Bowden sprinting down the hallway to complete it.
“We had to tell him to leave the office, even as a student intern,” Mason said. “He’d go 100 miles per hour to get things done.”
Mason played a critical role helping Bowden focus that energy. He surrounded him with structure and taught Bowden how to be better organized without tamping down his enthusiasm.
“I owe a lot of what happened in my life to Brian Mason,” Bowden says. “Brian did such a great job of understanding that I was crazy. But he also saw the good in me.”
Mason connected Bowden with Marcus Freeman, who at the time was Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator. Bowden asked if he could sit in on meetings with Freeman and Fickell to absorb as much knowledge as he could.
Bowden didn’t stay quiet in those meetings for long. “I never shut up after that,” he says.
It was out of that back-and-forth banter that Bowden and Freeman formed a close bond. Both, according to their fellow coaches, seemed uniquely suited for keeping the other in balance. Where Freeman was the more measured and thoughtful of the two, Bowden was bold and daring. He would push the envelope, and Freeman would rein him back in if need be.
“Like yin and yang,” said Mason, who also worked with both at Notre Dame.
Bowden quickly rose through the ranks at Cincinnati, from defensive quality control assistant to recruiting director. Along the way, there was “tough love” from Freeman that, Bowden says, was exactly what he needed to hear.
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman and his team line up to enter the field against USC at the Coliseum on Nov. 30.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“He gave me what I needed to be the best version of me,” he said. “‘If this is what you want to be, this is what you need to do.’”
When Freeman left in 2021 to be Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator, he brought along Bowden, who took a lesser role in South Bend. A year later, Freeman was promoted to head coach and Bowden became his recruiting director and right-hand man.
The recruiting operation quickly took on Bowden’s personality.
“We were flying fast,” says Chris O’Leary, who coached safeties at Notre Dame. “Whether it was offers, calling kids, it was rapid fire all the time. Every day was life or death.”
When it came to talking to recruits, Gerad Parker, who coached tight ends at Notre Dame, likened Bowden to “the crazy uncle at the birthday party.” During official visits, he orchestrated NBA style entrances for recruits and their families. Sometimes he showed up in costume. He memorably dressed up as a leprechaun, another time as an FBI agent.
A leprechaun costume at Notre Dame might seem silly, but Parker said Bowden owned it.
“It’s like going into character when you’re working at Disney,” Parker said. “Those people don’t roll their eyes because they’re in a Cinderella costume. They are Cinderella.”
Of course, not all of his ideas got past the cutting room floor. For one, Freeman refused Bowden’s request to jump out of a helicopter to impress recruits.
“He might bring a list of five ideas, right? And four of them are crazy,” Mason said. “He brought up helicopters on multiple occasions.”
Whatever others thought of his methods, Bowden’s approach was working. He was relentless in building relationships. Recruits raved about his impact. Notre Dame pulled in a trio of top-12 classes that would serve as the bedrock of a run to the national title game.
Michigan had already pursued Bowden to be its general manager before that 2024 run. He turned it down, in order to continue on with Freeman.
By the following January, Bowden decided to change directions. Four days after Notre Dame lost to Ohio State in the national championship, he was named USC’s new football general manager.
At the time, Bowden called the decision “a no-brainer.” While talking with reporters in March, he said “some things that were out of my control” at Notre Dame.
But to those who once worked with both Freeman and Bowden, it was unexpected..
“That had to weigh heavy on Chad,” said Parker, the Irish tight ends coach.
“[They were] like brothers,” said O’Leary, the safeties coach. “I know there’s a lot of layers behind it. But yeah, I was surprised to see him leave Notre Dame.”
By choosing USC, Bowden was once again striking out on his own, walking away from the world he knew best for the promise of building something bigger and better. Fittingly, it would bring him back to the city where his search for a career began.
In seven months at USC, he has completely revamped the front office operation with his hand-picked staff, repaired relationships with local coaches and power brokers and reinvigorated USC’s entire recruiting strategy. The Trojans’ 2026 class has soared to the top of the national recruiting rankings, with 32 commitments and climbing. And boosters are buying in, once again crowding the sidelines of football practices.
Staff members will tell you that Bowden’s impact in that short time at USC runs deeper. That his energy and his willingness to test limits and challenge norms has set a tone for the entire department.
When USC athletic director Jennifer Cohen approached Bowden during a recent football practice, she found him busy scribbling down notes.
“He had 15 things from that practice that he noticed or ideas that he had,” she said.
“He’s the eyes and ears of a program in a way that really takes the pressure off of everyone. He’s just been great within the university community, within the athletic department, with donors, with former players. We could not be more pleased with the progress that he’s made and his team has made and the impact that he’s having on USC football.”
Donna was thrown in at the deep in with a literal blind dateCredit: Channel 4
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Her date Damian didn’t hold back with his steamy confessionsCredit: Channel 4
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Even the experts seemed less than impressed with the conversationCredit: Channel 4
She was thrown straight in at the deep end when she was blindfolded and sent on a date with Damian.
After he asked if she had pets, Donna replied: “I’ve got a cat.”
She then told Damian her pet is called Mr Big, to which he replied: “Mr Big? A nice, big pussy.”
But, rather than being turned off by his obvious innuendo, Donna quizzed Damian on his sex drive.
After claiming it’s “through the roof”, Damian admitted to having had “threesomes and a fivesome”.
Donna said: “A fivesome? Isn’t that a g*** b***? How was that?”
Damian replied: “It was good, I enjoyed it.”
But some viewers at home didn’t enjoy the exchange, with one writing on social media: “omg at Donna’s blind date tonight …. Their conversation was so risqué lol …. I was flabbergasted.”
And another said: “Donna & Damian are a bit much. Who has those chats on a first date?”
Baker is also a prolific note-maker, something he puts down to his education.
At the time of his first stress fracture he was targeting a place to study biology at the University of Oxford and now he records analysis on opposition batters in a little book, along with plans and hopes for the future.
“I’ve just found it keeps me involved in the analysis stuff and then really remember it,” Baker says.
“It would be an absolute nightmare if you’re not really sure whether you’re meant to bowl wide or straight and then you pick the wrong one.
“You can’t really justify that to yourself at the end of the game.”
The Hundred means there is already a page in Baker’s notebook titled with the name of an Australian great.
Of the 12 balls Baker bowled to Steve Smith when Welsh Fire hosted Manchester Originals last Monday, three were hit for four and another three resulted in a false shot.
“It has been surreal, writing notes on Steve Smith thinking ‘am I actually going to be opening the bowling at him?'” Baker says.
This is the company Baker now keeps, however and, having rehabbed in Sydney after his most recent back injury, he has spent the past two winters in Australia.
Another will likely come this year with the young quick expected to be part of the Lions squad shadowing the Test team around the Ashes series.
From there anything can happen.
Far more unlikely names have been plucked by England to make a Test debut down under.
“I mean, that would be good fun, wouldn’t it?” Baker says.
“I’ll refer back to notes on any matters and Steve Smith is one of the red-ball GOATs [greatest of all-time] so I’d definitely be coming back to that analysis if I end up needing it.
“But let’s just worry about the next few games first. Let’s not get too far out of ourselves.
“We’ve got a Hundred to try and win and then South Africa series to try and win and then Ireland series try and win way before we think about any of all of that stuff.”
The FBI has accused the pair of working on behalf of China’s Ministry of State Security to gather naval intelligence.
The United States Department of Justice has charged two Chinese citizens for spying and trying to recruit from within the country’s military ranks.
According to Tuesday’s statement, Yuance Chen, 38, and Liren “Ryan” Lai, 39, are accused of working on behalf of China’s foreign intelligence arm, the Ministry of State Security (MSS).
The pair allegedly carried out a range of “clandestine intelligence taskings”, including facilitating payments in exchange for national security information, gathering intelligence on Navy bases and attempting to recruit MSS assets.
“This case underscores the Chinese government’s sustained and aggressive effort to infiltrate our military and undermine our national security from within,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
According to an affidavit from the FBI, Lai was part of an MSS network “who could travel more easily” between China and the US “to facilitate clandestine operations”.
Starting around 2021, he began developing Chen, who is a legal permanent resident, into his asset.
After ascertaining that Chen knew people in the US military, Lai urged him to travel abroad to discuss his connections in person, even offering to pay for the tickets, according to the affidavit.
The men reportedly met with MSS agents, and in 2022, they left a backpack with $10,000 in cash in a California locker as payment to other individuals for intelligence gathering.
In the years that followed, the affidavit says that Chen collected information about the Navy and sent it to Lai, while also discussing recruitment efforts directly with the MSS.
Some of that information included personal details from Navy employees. In one case, Chen travelled to San Diego, California, to meet with a Navy hire and tour the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier.
Photos included in the affidavit show a visitor’s badge as well as Chen posing with the employee and their child on top of the aircraft carrier’s deck.
The FBI says that such interactions are part of China’s campaign to extend its military’s reach.
“The PRC [People’s Republic of China] government seeks blue-water naval capabilities as part of their effort to modernize their navy and establish hegemony in the South China Sea,” the affidavit reads.
“Blue-water capabilities” generally refer to long-distance maritime efforts, as opposed to operations based closer to domestic shores.
“As such, the PRC government tasks and deploys the MSS to surreptitiously target the US Navy and collect intelligence,” the affidavit continues.
Both men were charged under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, or FARA, which requires that those working on behalf of another country register with the US government.
In recent years, the US government has ramped up its use of the law in its effort to combat alleged Chinese espionage activity.
Beijing typically denies such claims and has accused the US of discriminatory tactics.
“These charges reflect the breadth of the efforts by our foreign adversaries to target the United States,” US Attorney Craig H Missakian said in the Justice Department statement.
“We will continue to undertake counterespionage investigations and prosecutions, no matter how complex and sensitive, to disrupt attempts to weaken our national security.”
Four days after he was involved in a serious Cybertruck accident that led to him being put into an induced coma, top basketball prospect Alijah Arenas is walking and talking and expected to be discharged from the hospital “very soon,” according to the co-host of his father’s podcast, “Gil’s Arena.”
Arenas, according to Josiah Johnson of the “Gil’s Arena” podcast, sustained no major injuries in the single-car accident and is “doing much better.”
Arenas lost control of his Tesla Cybertruck just before 5 a.m. PDT Thursday as he was returning from the gym, according to Johnson. The car struck a fire hydrant and a tree on Corbin Avenue in Reseda and caught fire with Arenas inside.
The family said “brave individuals” helped rescue Arenas from the burning vehicle. One told the family that they heard “banging on the car window, but I couldn’t see anything because the smoke was so thick.” But onlookers were able to pull him out of the car.
“This act of courage, along with Alijah’s incredible will to survive, has been nothing short of miraculous,” the family said in a statement Friday.
Arenas was deemed “stable” at the scene, according to LAPD officer Rosario Cervantes. At the hospital, he was placed in an induced coma “as a result of smoke inhalation,” Johnson said.
A crumpled Telsa Cybertruck rests adjacent to a tree following a crash involving top USC basketball recruit Alijah Arenas.
(Handout)
Arenas was still intubated the following day but was able to open his eyes and communicate via writing.
Chatsworth High coach Sam Harris also told The Times that Arenas was “doing much better each day.”
Arenas, a top-10 prospect nationally and the crown jewel of USC’s 2025 recruiting class, is the son of former NBA player Gilbert Arenas. Last month, Arenas led Chatsworth to the CIF state championship game. He leaves the school as the City Section’s all-time leading scorer, with more than 3,000 points.
Arenas, who has yet to officially join USC, was expected to play a significant role for the Trojans next season as a freshman.
Alijah Arenas, the Chatsworth High star and crown jewel of USC’s incoming recruiting class, was involved in a serious auto accident on Thursday morning, a person familiar with the situation not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times.
Alijah is the son of former NBA player Gilbert Arenas, who canceled plans to stream a new episode of his online show Thursday.
A top-10 recruit in the 2025 class, Alijah Arenas led Chatsworth High to the CIF Division II state championship game in March. He left Chatsworth as the all-time City Section scoring leader, with more than 3,000 points, and recently competed in the McDonald’s All-American game.
Arenas was slated to play a major role as a freshman at USC after choosing the Trojans over more established basketball powers like Arizona, Kansas and Kentucky.
Chatsworth students had the day off from school Thursday in observance of Armenian Genocide Memorial Day.
This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates.
