In 2019, the college admissions fraud scandal, nicknamed “Operation Varsity Blues,” rocked the nation.
Full House star Lori Loughlin and Desperate Housewives‘ Felicity Huffman were found guilty of using bribes to have their children enrolled into top colleges.
Felicity is said to have paid someone to correct her daughter’s SATs, increasing the score by 400 points. Meanwhile, Lori and her husband Mossimo Giannulli paid $500,000 to have their daughters fraudulently enter USC as recruits for the crew team, despite neither of them being athletes.
The actresses served time in prison.
Felicity was sentenced to 14 days in prison followed by 250 hours of community service. She was also ordered to pay a $30,000 fine. Lori served even more jail time, with a 2-month prison sentence. She also had to pay a $250,000 fine and do 250 hours of community service.
On Oct. 25, 2020, it was announced that Felicity had completed her full sentence.
This included her community service on top of her prison sentence, which was ultimately shortened to 11 days.
Now, over three years later, Felicity is opening up about her crimes.
In a new interview with ABC-7 Eyewitness News, the actress explained why she did it.
“It felt like I had to give my daughter a chance at a future,” she said, “which meant I had to break the law.”
She confirmed that her daughter Sophia had no idea her mother had paid $15,000 to have someone change her SAT results in late 2017.
“She was going, ‘Can we get ice cream afterwards? I’m scared about the test. What can we do that’s fun?’,” recalled the actress. “And I kept thinking, turn around, just turn around. And to my undying shame, I didn’t.”
Felicity also explained how she ended up using the services of Rick Singer, a college admissions consultant who was paid by parents to inflate test scores and bribe school officials.
“After a year, he started to say, ‘Your daughter is not going to get into any of the colleges that she wants to,'” said Felicity. “And I believe him.”
Rick convinced her that there was no other way Sophia would be able to succeed academically.
“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,” she said.
“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,” Felicity added.
A month after paying Rick to change Sophia’s test results, the FBI entered Felicity’s home, startling her family.
“They came into my home. They woke my daughters up at gunpoint. Again, nothing new to the Black and brown community,” she recalled. “Then they put my hands behind my back and handcuffed me and I asked if I could get dressed.”
She initially didn’t know why she was being arrested.
“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?”
Felicity offered an apology for her actions.
“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,” she told ABC-7.
There’s an important reason why Felicity is choosing to speak out now about the situation.
“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 said.
A New Way of Life helps formerly incarcerated women establish their lives after prison by providing housing, job opportunities, and basic needs.
Felicity picked the organization for her court-ordered community service.
“I said, I’m here to apply to work but I understand if you don’t want me. And Susan looked at me and said f**k yeah, I want you!”
Susan, who is the head of A New Way of Life, confirmed that Felicity worked hard during her community service.
“I thought we would bring her in and put her at a desk and have her work in the office. And she said no, I want to do real work,” recalled Susan.
Susan added, “[Felicity] just organized all of our closets and donations. She went jogging down Central Avenue in South LA and created exercise classes for the women.”
Even after Felicity’s 250 hours of community service were completed, she kept working at A New Way of Life and joined its board of directors.
“When 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,” she said.
Like Felicity, Lori did good deeds following her crimes.
The Full House star remained involved with Project Angel Food after her hours of community service were completed.
The non-profit focuses on providing meals to those who are too ill to shop and cook for themselves.
In 2022, Lori appeared on KTLA 5, speaking about her profound experience working with the organization.
“They have welcomed me with such open arms at a time when I was feeling particularly down and broken,” she said. ‘That’s how I found a home here, and that’s what I feel like they did for me.
Lori added, “That’s why I’m so proud to be here and working with this organization, because they really do care. It’s really a community.”
Additionally, Lori reportedly paid for the full tuition of two students, which totaled over $500,000.
The two celebrities’ dedication to helping their communities shows there’s a silver lining in the scandal.
