Felicity Huffman has opened up about how the Varsity Blues scandal has affected her in a new interview, admitting that it feels like her “old life has died.”
The 61-year-old Desperate Housewives actress, who is preparing to star in Hir in London's West End as the mother of a transgender boy, spoke to The Guardian about her comeback.
The play marks Felicity's comeback to acting after she was jailed for 11 days in 2019 after bribing college officials with $15,000 to rig her daughter's SAT scores.
Felicity talked about how she felt about everyone in the audience knowing the guilty verdict at her trial and said, “I'll go into the room with that.” I did. It's black and white.'
Felicity said she is still processing how she is feeling after the ordeal, but added that she is “grateful to be here” and is happy as long as her family is well.
Felicity Huffman has opened up about how the Varsity Blues scandal has affected her in a new interview, admitting that it feels like her “old life has died.”
The piece marks Felicity's comeback to acting after she was jailed for 11 days in 2019 after bribing college officials with $15,000 to rig her daughter's SAT scores (pictured with daughter Sophia).
The publication reported that Felicity has “hardly worked” since her incarceration, and when reflecting on the change in her career, she said, “I recently did a pilot for ABC that didn't get picked up.” It was tough.
“Like your old life died and you died with it. “I'm lucky enough to have a family and love and resources, so I had a place to end up.”
Felicity discussed the reaction she has had since the scandal broke, saying that while some people have been kind to her, others have not.
One person who has supported her is American playwright David Mamet, who wrote an open letter about her imprisonment.
David suggested that Felicity should have received the Texas verdict, which essentially means not guilty, but don't do it again.
Felicity said it was “kind and brave” of David to defend her, but didn't admit whether she agreed with his verdict or not.
In December last year, Felicity finally broke her silence on the scandal, saying she felt she had “no choice” but to break the law.
Felicity paid a $30,000 fine and spent 11 days in jail after being charged with fraud.
Felicity with daughters Georgia (far left) and Sophia (second from left) and husband William H. Macy at the 2019 Golden Globes
In December last year, Felicity finally broke her silence on the scandal, saying she felt she had “no choice” but to break the law.
She had paid Rick Singer $15,000 to change her daughter Sophia's SAT scores to get her into college and was among a group of wealthy, famous parents caught up in the scandal.
Actress Lori Loughlin was also jailed for paying for her two daughters to get into USC.
In her first public comments outside the courtroom, Felicity told ABC that she thought it was a “joke” when FBI agents showed up at her mansion to arrest her.
“They came to my house, woke my daughters up at gunpoint — again, nothing new for the black and brown community — then folded my hands behind my back and handcuffed me.”
“I asked if I could get dressed. I thought it was a joke. I literally turned to one of the FBI guys in a body armor and a gun and said, “Is this a joke?”
Felicity said she regretted the plan but felt at the time she had no choice as Sophia, who she previously said had a learning disability, would not have been accepted otherwise.
Now Sophia is studying acting at Carnegie Mellon.
“It felt like I had to give my daughter a chance at a future. And so it was kind of like my daughter's future, which meant I had to break the law,” she said.
“I think I feel like the people that I owe something to and that I need to apologize to are the academic community and the students and families that make sacrifices and work really hard to get to where they are want to go there legitimately.”
Felicity spoke about A New Way of Life, an organization that helps formerly incarcerated women reintegrate into society.
“I want to use my experience and what I've been through and the pain to do something good,” she said.
Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giuannulli were also arrested and spent time in prison
Felicity and her husband William H. Macy hired Singer to help Sophia improve her grades so she could go to college.
She claims the plan wasn't obvious at first, but became clear when Singer told them Sophia wouldn't be accepted into a school without greasing the wheels.
“After a year he started saying your daughter won’t be going to any of the colleges she wants to go to.
“And I believed him. And then as he slowly started to introduce the criminal plan, it seemed to me – and I know it seemed crazy at the time – but this was my only chance to give my daughter a future.
“And I know hindsight is 20/20, but I felt like I would be a bad mother if I didn’t do it.
“So – I did it,” she said.
Sophia didn't know that her parents had paid for someone to change her test answers after she completed the SATS.
Lori Loughlin had her daughters pose on rowing machines as part of her fraudulent applications claiming to be star athletes
In this photo released by prosecutors, Isabella Giannulli appears to be posing on an ERG machine
The plan involved Singer paying a handful of discreet SAT test administrators who inflated students' scores after they took the test.
On the day of the SAT test, she said Sophia was nervous and asked if they could go out for ice cream afterward.
“She asked, 'Can we get ice cream after?'” Huffman recalls. “I'm afraid of the test.
“What can we do that’s fun?” And I kept thinking, turn around, just turn around.
“And to my undying shame, I didn’t,” Huffman said.
Lori and husband Mossimo Giuliani had their daughters pose as sports stars and prop them up on rowing machines to manipulate applications that portrayed them as athletes.
Rick Singer, the mastermind, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison in January this year.