Before Felicity Huffman’s appearance in court last Friday, I applauded her for admitting guilt, taking a plea deal and for treating the federal charges with the gravity they deserved. I compared her favorably to Lori Loughlin, who seems like an utter nutjob. But after reading all of the coverage from Felicity’s court appearance, I’m feeling less generous. Her statement to the court about the circumstances around her scheme to buy her daughters’ SAT scores came across as massively disingenuous. William H. Macy’s statement was awful too – he made Felicity sound like a terrible, obsessive mother who treated their daughters like science projects. Anyway, it probably doesn’t matter now – since Felicity took a plea deal, her sentence will probably be very light. And she’s ready for it.
Felicity Huffman is ready to face her fate. The Desperate Housewives actress, 56, who was charged in this year’s bombshell college admissions fraud investigation, is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday — and a source says she is ready to make up for her wrongdoing.
“She is willing to pay whatever price she has to pay for breaking the law and she is committed to making amends to the public and to the educational community and giving back in a substantive way,” says the source. In a recommendation to the judge, prosecutors called for the actress to face one month in prison followed by 12 months of supervised release as well as a $20,000 fine. Through her attorney, Huffman asked for one year of probation and community service.
But no court decision will be as heartbreaking to Huffman as the pain she has caused her family.
“She is focused right now on repairing her relationships within her family and helping put their lives back together,” says the source. “As a mother and wife, she wants to do everything she can to heal her family.”
After reading Felicity’s statement and WHM’s statements, as I said, I’m feeling less generous. Their daughters are apparently still mad at Felicity for what she did, and I believe that she did it without their knowledge. But truly, their daughters sound like they’ve been so “handled” and “managed” by their mother since birth, it’s a wonder both girls aren’t in need of a massive amount of therapy. Sophia is 19 and Georgia is 17, and Felicity has left them utterly unprepared for life in the real world. That will probably be the larger punishment – the daughters will have no idea how to function in real life without mommy there to do everything for them.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Willing? Well she doesn’t have a choice in the matter. She is still acting like she did this for her daughters when it was just for her own ego. Those poor girls. I don’t think they knew either. How humiliating. Now, Aunt Becky’s little darlings for sure knew and happily participated in the scheme.
That rubbed me the wrong way, too. Her source isn’t doing her any favors making statements like that.
At least from what’s out in the media, telling how different the kids reactions are. Huffman/Macy kid seems more upset her parents didn’t have faith in her abilities (I think they did the bribes for one vs both their daughters) and the impact on the family, can Loughlin/Mossimo girls where, at least the younger one, is more upset them getting caught and about lost IG followers and her influencer status/income.
“Willing” as in she’s not going to fight it or appeal or kick up a stink by throwing all her lawyers at it.
Exactly! Like rich and powerful people get to choose if they want to face the consequences of their actions. Eva Longoria’s letter had me a little sympathetic to her as a co-worker, and I don’t doubt that Huffman really thinks she’s giving it her best, but that’s the whole point: she was so proud of her good intentions that she thought she was above the rules. Even now she thinks she should get points for deigning to allow the rules to apply to her. So frustratingly dense.
I read somewhere that when she was young she basically had to raise herself: she had no mother figure there (cannot remember either alcoholic or something ). I think like in most cases you want your kids to have what you did not have—she just took it way too far. She may be the helicopter mom and she is not doing her children any favors by what she did; but knowing her back story explains her over mothering. Does not excuse her actions of course.
She did come from a very wealthy family, her father was a partner at Morgan Stanley and her grandparents and great grandparents had a lot of money. Her parents divorced and she grew up with her mother who brought property in Colorado. Her mother certainly could have been an alcoholic and a lousy mother. But FH went to a boarding school in Vermont and then Interlochen Academy in MI, as well as taking courses in Yale later on…so someone was funding her education.
Just because there was someone writing checks to pay tuition doesn’t mean there was anyone actually parenting. Those are two very, very different things. An accountant can cut the tuition check from a trust fund, but they will not have to be there to face a hungover mom every morning.
I think you are probably right, that Felicity is an over-parenter. Many parents, wealthy or not, with best intentions, do too much for their kids and leave them unprepared for life as an adult. Nobody is perfect.
I still think she has a correct and sincere attitude toward the law-breaking part. In all her communication with the Court, she has stated that she is offering an explanation, not an excuse. She has always unequivocally taken responsibility for her actions. I hope she gets some jail time. It is right that she should get some jail time, if only as an example to others. I think she would accept that without a fuss. If I were her, I would feel so guilty, I would almost want to go to jail.
As a mother myself, I do feel for how badly this must be damaging her relationship with her kids. If I were her daughter, I would be thinking, “she must not think much of me that she would cheat on my behalf.” All that is family damage that they will have to deal with for a long time. I’m not saying, “poor Felicity,” because these are the natural consequences of her actions. But I do see that she and her family are sincerely suffering.
I like your empathetic take 100000. Everybody is nitpicking to see were her apologies doesn’t satisfy them enough. She has complied. She admitted guilt, faced her sentence with great remorse and will most likely go to jail. But no, it’s the wording. Sheesh
I wonder now if I only read an excerpt from her court statement because I keep seeing people complain about it and I thought it was fine. She emphasized that she was responsible and made the choice she knew was wrong, and she gave the backstory, which just reiterated what we already have heard from others. I’m ready for hers to be done. Lori’s trial, on the other hand? I’ll have popcorn at the ready.
Same. Popcorn for Lori Loughlin. What a family of ass-clowns.
And that’s pretty much where I am on this. She screwed up BIG TIME. But she’s handling it pretty well all things considered. There need to be consequences – absolutely. But just the comparison between her and the Mossimo/Lori’s of the world is such a contrast of how to do things “right” after a scandal and how to do things “wrong”.
And you’re right. It’s not really a case of poor Felicity – it’s actually sort of “lucky Felicity” that things aren’t worse. But that doesn’t make it any easier on the family unit. It sucks for her in that she’s getting the brunt of the blame, it sucks for her husband for either having to lie about his involvement, or even just to hear people talking about his wife. It sucks for the kids who might now be dealing with a giant case of imposter syndrome while looking back at their real accomplishments – and it sucks for them to see their family going through turmoil. But again – it’s a direct consequence to her own shady actions, so it’s what she should expect, I guess? I think there’s a way to recognize the struggle and still expect someone to be held accountable.
I agree with you; people are so quick to demonize others, instead of understanding sometimes people make stupid choices they’re very sorry for. I’m surprised William Macy would just throw his wife under the bus like that! He’s the girls’ dad, and if he felt their mother was over protective, he could have fought that influence and taken some more responsibility. I like HIM less than Felicity, frankly. In fact, just writing this makes me angry; kick her while she’s down, Bill! Don’t once accompany her to court. Distance yourself, because you’ve obviously taken so much responsibility to raise your daughters to be independent. I would divorce his skinny ass if I was Felicity, for being so holier-than-thou when she’s been shamed in front of the entire world.
Of course she is. Willingness to pay whatever price she must pay is a contributing factor in how she got here in the first place.
Ha!
I read yesterday that she was balking at a one month stay in prison…if that’s true, she’s really showing her privilege.
I think the sentencing phase is more of a math problem based on the weight given to certain statutory factors. The defense and prosecutors were probably not quite on the same page as to sentencing, so they each make their case and let the Court decide. I don’t think letting the lawyers do their job is necessarily “balking” at jail time. It is worth noting that whatever office is in charge of making sentencing recommendations recommended no jail.
Heard a new term for obsessive parents recently. Instead of helicopter parents, hovering over their children, we now also have lawnmower parents, willing to run over everything standing in front of their children to clear a path for them. I think lawnmower parent fits Felicity perfectly.
Think the NYT magazine had an article in the last year on “snowplow” parenting. Eek!
Didn’t one of the girls get extra time or a special situation to take the SATs, based on a falsified learning disability? Did she wonder why she wasn’t taking the test like everyone else? Other than that I can believe they didn’t know the full extent of what she was doing, because she probably just handled everything for them all the time. I’d be curious to hear from their kids’ high school if there were any issues then.
Felicity said that the learning disabilities were not false, that they had been diagnosed for years. I don’t believe there was an allegation against Felicity that the diagnoses were fake as a part of this scheme in her case, but I may be mis-remembering. Other perpetrators did have fake diagnoses for extra time or a special testing center. Whether the original diagnoses made years prior were puffed up for false is another matter.
In affluent communities large percentages of kids are diagnosed with “learning disabilities” so they can get extra time on testing whether it’s to get into private school or college. Half my friends in Silicon Valley got their kids extra time taking the SAT’s. It was a joke, frankly. The rich and well off using the system to their advantage while poor kids in East Palo Alto struggled to survive. This was 12 years ago, I can only imagine how much crazier parents have gotten…
The two daughters in the first photo look completely different than the two daughters in the second photo. Even their eye color is different…
Yeah that’s what I noticed too!
What still is curious is why she is the only one charged as they seem to have had Macy on tape too. I guess he doesn’t acknowledge his part due to risk of prosecution but doesn’t sit right.
And the letters were over the top.
Her name was on the check. She was the main point of contact. He was on tape talking about the second daughter but they ultimately didn’t use that service for girl #2. So that’s why he wasn’t charged.
Sort of off topic…Eva Longoria’s ‘letter of support’ for FH… that she was a ‘young, naive Mexican girl…’ and ‘was naive (again) about the industry…’. Really?
30 years old, went off to college for 4 years, worked 4 years in LA as a ‘head hunter’ for an employment agency, 2 years as a regular cast member on Young and the Restless + guest roles on other TV shows, married for 2 years…all this yet was ‘naive’ when she first met FH.
Wow.
Going from supporting roles to a huge role in the spotlight on DH must be a big transition – maybe that’s what she means?
I’m sure someone has already pointed this out but I find the performative aspect of her penitence interesting. Her lack of makeup specifically, like unapologetic woman wear mascara, women who are sorry don’t. I’m not saying it right and someone has probably said it better but it reminds me of that Russian scammer who showed up to court everyday in babydoll dresses to show how innocent she was. It didn’t work for the scammer, but the theater of our legal system has always fascinated me
I don’t recall watching her as an actress, but while reading these comments where most believe her sincere makes me wonder how good an actress she is.
So, did William have nothing to do in the raising of his children?
He’s the girls’ dad, and if he felt their mother was over protective, he could have fought that influence and taken some more responsibility to raise them more independently. I like HIM less than Felicity, frankly. He hasn’t once accompanied her to court, and he publicly criticizes her? I would divorce his skinny ass if I was Felicity, for being so holier-than-thou when she’s being shamed in front of the entire world.
He’s not criticizing her per se. That letter he wrote was a request for leniency. He’s telling the sad tale of her youth in order to influence the judge into handing out a lesser/non jail sentence.
Let me start by saying I’m Canadian and we treat non violent offences pretty differently in Canada. That being said I don’t think she should go to jail. I don’t think anybody who has committed such a crime should face jail time, I think that’s a bit severe for crime with no tangible victim. I personally believe that she should be given community service and a fine should be paid. I also think fines should be based on networth.
I love it when a judge sets a punishment that is tailored to a specific crime. A hefty fine would be great, and I’d love to see it set aside to provide scholarships for students who were legitimately accepted. I think that her community service could be tutoring these students. If the scholarships were for drama students, she could provide valuable mentoring to those students. Why not take advantage of her expertise? Why not give her the opportunity to feel that she has truly helped the students?
Canada sounds more and more awesome every day. The only thing keeping me in the gun-crazy, Trumpified US is my family; my kids, grandkids, and sister. Maybe when the kids are older…
I read somewhere that she doesn’t want to do one day of jail because her actions hurt no one. I bet she’ll get her wish.
Her actions hurt the educational prospects for the students who’s places her daughters took. Physical or otherwise doesnt make a difference.
The poc who get jailed for years because of pot possession werent hurting anyone either.
Isn’t that what got her in trouble in the first place? 😉
I’ll see myself out.