Five years have passed since the university bribery case that hit the headlines involving Felicity Huffman, in which she tried to use money to get her eldest daughter into a university she wasn't qualified for. Now the actress begins to search for her personal and professional salvation. Neither is easy, as she expected and sees firsthand. Who was one of the Desperate Housewives of the famous series of the first two thousand and was nominated for an Oscar for her role as a transsexual woman in Transamerica, is trying to regain her life and her career and also the respect of the public. and soon he's talking about it.
Huffman, 61, gave an interview to the British newspaper The Guardian to mark her return to work. Between February 15th and March 16th, audiences can see her live and up close on the stages of the Park Theater in London, where she will play one of the protagonists of the play Hir. Making her debut on the British stage is Paige, the mother of a family in trouble: abused by her husband, who has suffered a stroke, her eldest son has just returned from fighting in Afghanistan and her youngest son Max is no longer her daughter. Maxine begins to speak openly about her transsexuality. An intense role to return to the stage. “His personal problems are entirely related to the fears he had and how much he loved his children, and that's exactly what his character is going through,” says the work's creator, Taylor Mac, in the same talk.
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When asked politely, “How are you?” Huffman replies somewhat shyly: “I’m grateful to be here.” “But how am I?” I guess I'm still processing it. When asked what she thinks about the scandal surrounding the case that affected her five years ago, in which she pleaded guilty and for which she spent 11 days in prison – she was sentenced to 14 hours and an additional 250 hours – said the community: one year probation and a fine of $30,000; Books and documentaries have been made on the subject – he says: “Are you referring to Varsity Blues?” [el nombre que le asignó la policía al caso]? How am I doing is a bit of a tricky question. As long as my daughters and husband are okay, I think I’m okay.”
Felicity Huffman leaves the Boston courthouse with her husband William H. Macy after being sentenced to 14 days in jail for college fraud in September 2019.MediaNews Group/Boston Herald vi (via Getty Images)
The interpreter has been in a relationship with fellow actor William H. Macy since the early 1980s, who was never charged in the plot. They married in 1997 and have two daughters, Sophia (23) and Georgia (21). In March 2019, a conspiracy was uncovered involving more than 50 parents, including major businessmen and personalities from the world of entertainment such as Forced Parents actress Lori Loughlin and Huffman himself paid off a middleman and mastermind of the conspiracy – Rick Singer, the earned more than $25 million and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison in January 2023 – to falsify their children's documents, manipulate exams or were accepted into a university sports club as a top athlete, giving young people access to some of the most demanding educational centers in the world Procure land. Huffman confessed to her involvement and paying $15,000 to have her eldest daughter's college entrance exam tampered with. Sophia didn't know that her mother had falsified the college entrance test results, much less that she was involved in a corrupt conspiracy. He couldn't go to college at the time, so he retook the exam, got the required grades and is now studying theater at Carnegie Mellon University. “Yeah, every time I walk into a room it’s there. I did it. It’s white on black,” the interpreter admits again in an interview with The Guardian.
He realizes that his life has never been the same since. He has barely worked, except for an episode of The Good Doctor last year and a podcast he voiced a few months ago. “I did a pilot episode for [una serie de la cadena de televisión] ABC recently and had no success. It was hard. It's like a part of your old life died and you died with it. “I’m very lucky to have a family and love and resources, so I had a place to land.”
In the talk, the performer tries not to delve too deeply into the subject of the Varsity Blues case that landed her in prison, but it is inevitable that it comes to the fore because of the major impact it had on her life . He also talks about how he can no longer play the role for which he almost won an Oscar almost 20 years ago, in 2006, that of a transsexual woman in Transamerica. “I wouldn’t be able to do that now,” he admits. “I think we need to get the public thinking and that means getting everyone involved. There has been inequality for a long time, now the pendulum must swing in the other direction. But I hope it leads to a situation where everyone can play any role they want.”
Previously, Huffman had only spoken about the matter once. It was in a television interview with the American channel ABC last December in which she not only spoke about how she felt, but also explained the reasons that led her to join this fraudulent channel. “I felt like I had to give my daughter the chance for a future. It was about my daughter's future… and that meant I had to break the law,” he explained at the time. “I thought, 'Turn around, don't go on, don't go on'… but to my shame I didn't do it,” he recalled, explaining this when the ringleader of the conspiracy began telling him that his daughter had no chance , to attend university and showed her “the criminal plan” that seemed to her – “and I know it seems crazy,” she admits – that she had no other option to give her daughter a future, and that she would be “a bad mother” if she hadn’t done it. : “So I did it.”
When the FBI entered her house at gunpoint in the early morning hours and demanded she come with them, she thought it was a joke. In the interview, Huffman acknowledged that she “owes an apology to the academic community and the students and families who have made sacrifices and worked really hard to legitimately get there.” Now, as with her nonprofit work, she works with an organization called “A New Way of Life,” which helps women who have been in prison reintegrate into society.