Felicity Huffman Reflects on the College Admissions Scandal in Vanity Fair

By Savannah Walsh

Felicity Huffman, nearly five years after serving an 11-day jail term due to her role in the college admissions scandal known as Operation Varsity Blues, confesses the difficulty in moving past the public shame that stemmed from her criminal act.

"It's a challenge to enter any room given what I did. It is indubitably a fact," Huffman shared during a recent interview with The Guardian. "The state of my well-being is a complex question. As long as my kids and my husband, actor William H. Macy, are doing well, I consider myself to be doing fine." In 2019, the Desperate Housewives star admitted guilt to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud following her payment of $15,000 to William “Rick” Singer for inflating her daughter’s SAT scores. Amidst also fulfilling a $30,000 fine, completing 250 hours of community service, and issuing a written apology, Huffman currently claims, "I'm thankful for being here. However, my present emotional state? I'm possibly still processing."

Recounting her entanglement in the scandal alongside 32 other parents, Huffman mentions notable figures such as Full House’s Lori Loughlin who served nearly two months in prison and Singer, who admitted guilt to charges of racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and obstruction of justice. Singer received a sentence of 42 months in prison along with a directive to pay a $10 million restitution to the IRS. "When the criminal scheme was gradually introduced, it seemed —convoluted as it appears now— at that moment as the singular option to secure my daughter’s future," Huffman explained in December last year. "While hindsight is 20/20, to not follow this path seemed like a failure in my role as a mother. So, I pursued it."

Following Huffman's conviction, she has not been successful in obtaining any significant screen roles. "I am by no means sugarcoating my actions but the responses have swayed between kindness and judgement," Huffman told The Guardian. Last year, a proposed spin-off of The Good Doctor featuring Huffman did not move forward, and a baseball comedy series in 2020 that was planned with Huffman as part of the cast never premiered. “A recent pilot for ABC that involved me was also not approved. It’s difficult. It is like you and your previous life have both met an end," Huffman shared. "I consider myself fortunate to have a supportive family and financial stability, offering a safe place to land."

Instead, Huffman, an Emmy winner, has found a new venture on the London stage taking on a role in a revival of Taylor Mac’s Hir. Huffman portrays Paige, the mother of a transgender child. A notable memory is Huffman's Oscar nomination in 2006 for her portrayal of a trans woman in Transamerica, a role Huffman acknowledges she would not be allowed to take on today. She ended on the note, "I believe in catering to the audience and it should include everyone. The balance has been tipped for too long and now it's time for the scales to tilt the other way. I hope this paves the way for freedom in casting choices."

In response to the magazine's question about meeting trans actor Alexandra Billings, claimed by Billings to have originally been offered the part Huffman eventually landed, Huffman replied, "I cannot recall such an incident. To my defence, I am hormonally challenged due to a lack of estrogen in my body."