Felicity Huffman Breaks Her Silence on College Admissions Scandal

Felicity Huffman is speaking out about the college admissions scandal that landed her in jail in 2019.

The star was among other wealthy parents who worked with college admission consultant Rick Singer, who used fraudulent tactics to help kids get into universities.

Huffman paid $15,000 to have her daughter Sophia Macy’s SAT scores falsified. She was arrested, eventually pleading guilty to federal charges. In the end, Felicity served 11 days in prison, paid $30,000 in fines, and performed community service.

Now, in an interview with ABC 7, she’s looking back at the scandal and apologizing for her actions.

Felicity said the family began working with Singer without any intention of breaking the law, continuing, "After a year, he started to say, ‘Your daughter is not going to get into any of the colleges that she wants to.’”

"And I believed him,” she explained. “And so, when he slowly started to present the criminal scheme, it seems like — and I know this seems crazy at the time — but that was my only option to give my daughter a future."

The “Desperate Housewives” actress went on, "And 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."

"It felt like I had to give my daughter a chance at a future," Huffman said. "And so, it was sort of like my daughter's future, which meant I had to break the law."

She drove her daughter to take the SATs in 2017, and recalled, "She was going, 'Can we get ice cream afterwards? I'm scared about 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 months later, the FBI arrived at her doorstep.

"They came into my home. They woke my daughters up at gunpoint,” she said. “Again, nothing new to the Black and brown community. Then they put my hands behind my back and handcuffed me and I asked if I could get dressed."

Felicity thought it was a “hoax,” saying, “I literally turned to one of the FBI people, in a flak jacket and a gun, and I went, ‘Is this a joke?’"

Now, she’s apologizing for her actions, saying, "I think the people I owe a debt and apology to is the academic community. And to the students and the families that sacrifice and work really hard to get to where they are going legitimately."

Felicity performed her community service at a nonprofit helping formerly incarcerated women.

Now, she’s serving on the board and hoping to raise awareness about the organization.

"I want to use my experience and what I've gone through and the pain to bring something good, which is to shine a light on Susan Burton's organization called A New Way of Life."

She shared, “I saw what A New Way of Life was doing, which is they heal one woman at a time — and if you heal one woman, you heal her children, you heal her grandchildren, and you heal the community."

Burton, who joined her for the interview, said, "Felicity Huffman is one of the most beautiful people I've met in my lifetime. And I know she has had a hiccup. But it's not the hiccup — it's how you come through the hiccup."

As for Huffman’s daughter Sophia, ABC 7 says she was turned down by every college she applied to during the scandal. After taking the SATs again, she landed at Carnegie Mellon University, where she is studying drama.