Felicity Huffman is speaking about her involvement in the college admissions scandal that landed her in prison.
Felicity Huffman is speaking about her involvement in the college admissions scandal that landed her in prison.
One day in December 2017 actress Felicity Huffman was driving her daughter to take the SAT while keeping a secret from her.
The high-school student had no idea her mother had paid $15,000 for someone to falsify the results.
« It felt like I had to give my daughter a chance at a future, » Huffman recalls. « And so it was sort of like my daughter’s future, which meant I had to break the law. »
In an exclusive interview with our sister station KABC-TV in Los Angeles, the Oscar nominee is speaking for the first time about her participation in what would become a national scandal involving dozens of wealthy parents and a college-admission consultant who used fraudulent means to help get their kids into college.
Huffman recalls having second thoughts and anxiety about her actions as she drove her daughter to take the test that day.
« She was going, ‘Can we get ice cream afterwards?' » Huffman recalls. « 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. »
Once college-admission consultant Rick Singer’s activities were discovered by investigators, 33 wealthy parents faced federal charges in Operation Varsity Blues. They were accused of conspiring to use bribery and fraud to get their kids into top colleges. Besides Huffman, two of the most prominent names were actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, designer Mossimo Giannulli.
Singer served as their middleman, receiving millions of dollars to help inflate test scores and even bribe school officials.
