For nearly a year, Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli were living separate lives without formally ending their marriage.

Now that has changed.

Loughlin, 62, filed for divorce from Giannulli, 63, on Sept. 4, bringing their nearly 28-year marriage toward a legal conclusion after a separation that had already been quietly underway since the summer of 2025.

According to the divorce filing, the Full House actress cited irreconcilable differences and identified Aug. 25, 2025, as the date the couple separated. The documents also confirm that Loughlin and Giannulli had a prenuptial agreement before marrying in November 1997 and later amended that agreement in 2015.

The filing marks the most definitive step yet in a breakup that had initially been described much more cautiously.

Their Marriage Had Already Been on Pause for Months

The couple’s separation did not become public immediately.

Although Loughlin now lists Aug. 25, 2025, as the date they separated, her representative Elizabeth Much did not confirm the split until Oct. 2 of that year.

At the time, the situation was characterized as a break rather than the beginning of formal divorce proceedings. Loughlin and Giannulli were living apart, but there was no legal case underway.

That left open the possibility that the longtime couple might eventually repair their marriage.

As the months passed, however, accounts from people close to Loughlin painted a much more difficult picture.

Shortly after news of the separation emerged, one source said Loughlin’s friends were rallying around her and were deeply unhappy with Giannulli. The source said those close to the actress were angry with him.

By January 2026, the emotional distance between the spouses appeared even greater.

An insider described Loughlin as still extremely angry, while Giannulli was said to want the situation settled as quietly as possible.

The same account suggested reconciliation was becoming increasingly unlikely.

The College Admissions Scandal Changed Their Marriage

One of the most important strains on the relationship, according to a source, was the 2020 college admissions scandal that engulfed both Loughlin and Giannulli.

The couple were accused of paying $500,000 to a college admissions consultant who falsely presented their daughters as crew recruits in connection with their admission to the University of Southern California.

Loughlin and Giannulli ultimately pleaded guilty to wire and mail fraud.

Both served prison sentences.

Loughlin spent two months behind bars, while Giannulli served five months.

According to a source familiar with their relationship, surviving the scandal and the consequences that followed changed the marriage in a lasting way.

The couple went through the public fallout and their prison terms together, but the relationship reportedly never returned to what it had been before.

One insider said Loughlin ultimately felt betrayed and that the two had reached very different places in their lives, making a reunion seem improbable.

Years after the scandal first transformed their public lives, it remained part of the story surrounding their marriage’s collapse.

Nearly Three Decades Together

Loughlin and Giannulli married in November 1997.

Their marriage lasted nearly 28 years before the actress filed for divorce.

They share two adult daughters, Isabella Rose, 27, and Olivia Jade, 26. Because both women are adults, the divorce does not involve the kind of child-custody questions that often become central to separations involving younger children.

The couple’s financial relationship also had a structure in place long before their split.

The new court documents reveal that Loughlin and Giannulli entered into a prenuptial agreement before their wedding and modified it in 2015.

That detail adds another layer to a marriage that spanned decades, two daughters, major professional success and one of the most intensely scrutinized periods of either spouse’s public life.

By the time Loughlin officially filed, however, the emotional separation had already been in place for more than a year.

Loughlin Has Been Rebuilding Her Public Life

The divorce filing comes at a time when Loughlin has gradually been becoming more visible again.

On Aug. 31, just days before filing for divorce, she returned to Instagram for the first time in seven years.

She had deleted her account following the college admissions scandal.

Her return to social media was another sign of how her public life has begun shifting again after years in which much of the attention surrounding her was tied to the scandal and its consequences.

Loughlin has also been steadily returning to acting.

Her more recent television work has included appearances in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Blue Bloods and On Call. She has also appeared in When Hope Calls, When Hope Calls: A Country Christmas and the Hallmark Mystery series Garage Sale Mystery.

That professional rebuilding now coincides with a significant change in her personal life.

The woman who spent decades publicly associated with both her acting career and her marriage to Giannulli is moving into a new phase without him as her husband.

A Break Becomes a Divorce

When the couple’s separation was first confirmed in October 2025, the language surrounding it left the future deliberately uncertain.

They were apart.

They were taking a break.

There were no legal proceedings.

Less than a year later, that ambiguity is gone.

Loughlin’s Sept. 4 filing formally changes the status of a relationship that had already deteriorated privately. She cited irreconcilable differences, confirmed that the separation began in August 2025 and took the step that had not yet happened when the split first became public.

The divorce comes after a marriage that survived nearly three decades, the raising of two daughters, professional highs and an enormous public scandal followed by prison sentences for both spouses.

But according to those close to the situation, surviving those experiences together did not mean the relationship emerged intact.

Instead, the fallout appears to have created a divide that widened over time.

For months, Loughlin and Giannulli remained legally married while living apart and seemingly moving in different directions.

Now, more than a year after the separation date listed in her court papers, Loughlin has made that distance official.

What began as a private break from a 28-year marriage has become a divorce — closing one of the longest chapters of her adult life as she continues rebuilding the next one.