Felicity Huffman, who served 11 days in jail for her involvement in the nationwide 2019 Varsity Blues college admissions scandal, said, “It’s been hard” ever since — and she’s finding it tough to land acting roles.
“I walk into the room with it. I did it. It’s black and white,” the former “Desperate Housewives” star told the Guardian. “How I am is kind of a loaded question.”
“As long as my kids are well and my husband is well, I feel like I’m well. I’m grateful to be here,” she went on. “But how am I? I guess I’m still processing.”
Huffman, 61, is married to fellow actor William H. Macy, 73. They have two daughters, Sophia, 23 and Georgia, 21.
Since being convicted in 2019 in the college admissions scandal, Huffman is having a hard time landing acting roles.
Last year, it was announced she would star in a spinoff of ABC’s “The Good Doctor” called “The Good Lawyer” opposite Kennedy McMann, but it was not picked up as a series.
“I did a pilot for ABC recently that didn’t get picked up,” Huffman told the Guardian. “It’s been hard. Sort of like your old life died, and you died with it.
“I’m lucky enough to have a family and love and means, so I had a place to land.”
She also starred in a 2020 pilot for ABC in which she played the owner of a minor league baseball team — but that, too, did not go forward.
Huffman was charged in 2019 with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud after shelling out $15,000 to have someone else take Sophia’s SATs.
She subsequently paid a $30,000 fine and completed 250 hours of community service.
“I am pleading guilty to the charge brought against me by the United States Attorney’s Office. I am in full acceptance of my guilt, and with deep regret and shame over what I have done, I accept full responsibility for my actions and will accept the consequences that stem from those actions,” Huffman said in 2019.
“I am ashamed of the pain I have caused my daughter, my family, my friends, my colleagues and the educational community.”
Huffman was one of 40 people to be charged in the college admissions scandal, along with former “Fuller House” star Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, who both pleaded guilty.
Prosecutors alleged that Huffman made a $15,000 donation to the Key Worldwide Foundation, ostensibly a charitable contribution — but that it was, in reality, payment to someone who posed as her daughter Sophia to take the SAT test, and who scored significantly higher than did Sophia on her PSATs.
No charges were filed against Macy or Sophia, who, Huffman said, knew nothing about the donation and phony SAT test.
Loughlin pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and Giannulli pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and honest services wire and mail fraud.
Loughlin was sentenced to two months in prison, while Giannulli was sentenced to five months in prison.
Loughlin subsequently starred in a holiday TV movie, “Fall Into Winter,” for Great American Family.
In November, Huffman explained a bit about why she felt compelled to get involved in the scandal in the first place.
“It like I had to give my daughter a chance at a future,” she told ABC’s “Eyewitness News.” “And so it was sort of like my daughter’s future, which meant I had to break the law.”
She added that she had misgivings even as she was driving her daughter to her SAT test.
“She was going, ‘Can we get ice cream afterwards?’ ” Huffman recalled. ” ‘I’m scared about the test. What can we do that’s fun?’ And I kept thinking, ‘Turn around, just turn around.’ “
She added: “And to my undying shame, I didn’t.”
Credit: Source link
