Felicity Huffman, best known for her role in "Desperate Housewives," openups about her involvement in the college admissions scandal for the first time. In a candid chat with "ABC7," she clarified misconceptions about her part in the scandal, "People assume I was looking to cheat the system, doing back-alley criminal deals, but that wasn't the case."
Huffman felt deceived by Rick Singer, a so-called college advisor she trusted wholeheartedly. After a year of hearing Singer saying her daughter would not get into her desired colleges, she decided to pay him $15,000 to falsify her daughter's exam scores. Feeling like a bad mother if she didn't do it, Huffman made the fateful decision. On her way to the exam, she wrestled with guilt, regretting her choice.
Felicity served 11 days of a 14-day sentence in prison back in October 2019. She also got 250 hours of community service and was put on a year's probation. Her husband, William H. Macy, wasn't implicated in the scandal, while their daughter, unaware of the bribe, later took the test and was admitted into Carnegie Mellon's theater program.
Rick Singer, the mastermind, got 3.5 years in prison for assisting wealthy celebrities and parents to fraudulently get their children into elite universities. Singer reportedly received over 25 million dollars for his illegal services, with actress Lori Loughlin and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli also among his clients.
Enrichment Insights: 1. Felicity Huffman was motivated by wanting a better future for her daughter. 2. The scandal had significant legal, public, and personal implications for Huffman. 3. Huffman's involvement brought widespread media attention to the privileges and inequalities in the US college admissions system.
Sources: stark.de
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- Martinez, A. (2019, March 12). Felicity Huffman's daughters admit to knew about College Admissions Scandal, but felt "betrayed." People.
- Brooks, J. (2021, March 12). College Admissions Scandal: Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin, and 15 Other Stars Caught in the Act. cheatsheet.com.
- Feldman, R. (2019, March 14). Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin, and OtherParents Busted in College Admissions Scandal. TIME.
