Felicity Huffman Talks College Admissions Scandal for the First Time: ‘I Had to Break the Law’
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Four years after Felicity Huffman found herself embroiled in a college admissions scandal, the actress talked about the ordeal for the first time in a new interview.
Huffman ultimately spent 11 days in jail and was sentenced to community service for her role in Operation Varsity Blues, in which she paid $15,000 to “college admissions consultant” Rick Singer to falsify her daughter’s SAT test results.
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“It felt like I had to give my daughter a chance at a future,” Huffman told Los Angeles’ KABC in an exclusive interview. “And so it was sort of like my daughter’s future, which meant I had to break the law.”
The actress admitted that she reached out to Singer without the intention of breaking the law. However, “After a year, he started to say your daughter is not going to get into any of the colleges that she wants to,” Huffman said. “And I believed him. And so when he slowly started to present the criminal scheme, it seemed like — and I know this seems crazy at the time — but that was my only option to give my daughter a future. 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.”
Huffman also shared her experience of having the family’s home raided by federal agents in March 2019 when she was among the 33 parents facing charges for their dealings with Singer, who was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison and a $10 million fine earlier this year.
“They came into my home. They woke my daughters up at gunpoint. 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,” Huffman said of the federal raid. “I thought it was a hoax. I literally turned to one of the FBI people, in a flak jacket and a gun, and I went, ‘Is this a joke?'”
The Desperate Housewives star sat down for a KABC interview in part to discuss her continued work with A New Way of Life organization, where Huffman served her 250 hours of community service and remains on their board of directors. The nonprofit provides housing, clothing, job training, and safety to women recently released from incarceration.
After a four-year hiatus from acting, Huffman returned to the small screen earlier this year with an appearance on The Good Doctor.
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