Felicity Huffman hopes to make a career comeback following the 2019 college admissions scandal that led to her conviction.
In a new interview with The Guardian, the “Desperate Housewives” star, 61, opened up about her “Operation Varsity Blues” arrest and how it’s affected her life and career.
“I walk into the room with it. I did it. It’s black and white,” Huffman said. “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.”
Huffman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud after bribing a college prep expert $15,000 to alter her daughter’s SAT scores to get her into college. The actress was ordered to pay $30,000 in fines and complete 250 hours of community service after serving 11 days of a 14-day jail sentence .
Huffman recently spoke about the effect her arrest has had on her life and career. (Getty Images)
‘TRANSAMERICA STAR FELICITY HUFFMAN SAYS SHE ‘WOULDN’T BE ABLE’ TO PLAY ROLE TODAY
She still feels consequences years later.
Though she landed an appearance on ”The Good Doctor” and voice work on “Supreme: The Battle for Roe,” she admitted her career suffered.
“I did a pilot for ABC recently that didn’t get picked up. It’s been hard,” she said. “Sort of like your old life died and you died with it.”
She added she’s “grateful” for her support system, including daughters Georgia, 21, and Sofia, 23, whom she shares with her husband of 27 years, William H. Macy. He did not face any criminal charges in the fraud case.
“I’m lucky enough to have a family and love and means, so I had a place to land,” she said.
FELICITY HUFFMAN GOES BACK TO WORK FOLLOWING PRISON TERM FOR COLLEGE ADMISSIONS SCANDAL
Huffman is happy she has a good support system in her family, including her husband, actor William H. Macy. (Nic Antaya for The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
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Huffman previously spoke to ABC7 Eyewitness News about what led to the crimes.
“People assume that I went into this looking for a way to cheat the system and making proverbial criminal deals in back alleys, but that was not the case,” she said in December 2023.
“I worked with a highly recommended college counselor named Rick Singer. I worked with him for a year and trusted him implicitly; he recommended programs and tutors, and he was the expert,” she added. “And after a year, he started to say, ‘Your daughter is not going to get into any of the colleges that she wants to.’ And, so, I believed him.
“When he slowly started to present the criminal scheme, it seemed like — and I know this seems crazy at the time — that that was my only option to give my daughter a future. I know hindsight is 20/20, but it felt like I would be a bad mother if I didn’t do it. So, I did it.”
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Huffman previously recalled feeling like it was her only option to help her daughter get into college. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)
Actress Lori Loughlin and her designer husband Mossimo Giannulli were also charged, while Singer was sentenced to 3½ years in prison and ordered to forfeit $10 million. Huffman’s daughter took the SAT again and earned a spot at Carnegie Mellon University, where she participates in the drama program.
With the scandal mostly behind her, the Oscar-nominated actress is gearing up for her first big role as Paige, the mother of a transgender child, in London’s Park Theater revival of Taylor Mac’s “Hir,” which runs Feb. 15 through March 16.
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