Desperate Housewives actress Felicity Huffman was arrested in March for her role in the ongoing college admissions scandal. The star later pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit mail and honest services fraud. Next week she will find out her fate at her sentencing. Prior to the sentencing date, Huffman wrote a lengthy letter to the judge in the case in which she explains why she did what she did, according to Cosmopolitan .
Huffman got connected with the ringleader of the cheating scheme, Rick Singer, when she realized that her daughter’s SAT exam scores were not at the level they needed to be at in order for her to have a chance to get into her most desired universities. Worried that her daughter’s dreams would be crushed, she agreed to pay Singer $15,000 under the guise of a fake charity, so that daughter Sophia Macy’s SAT exam answers would be corrected. Her daughter had no idea of what her mother was doing behind the scenes to ensure her success.
In the letter she wrote to the judge presiding over her case, Huffman explains that she didn’t actually care if her daughter got into a big name, prestigious college. Rather, she wanted Sophia to have a chance to get into a school where she could pursue her dream of majoring in theater. Her daughter’s math skills weren’t the greatest, and Huffman didn’t want her to miss her chance for that reason alone.
Felicity Huffman tells judge she wanted daughter to have a “fair shot” at college https://t.co/PI70YOTTva pic.twitter.com/qf61qUUqYi
— Variety (@Variety) September 6, 2019
“Sophia was passionate about majoring in theater, but over time, Mr. Singer told me that her test scores were too low, and if her math SAT scores didn’t rise dramatically, none of the colleges she was interested in would even consider her auditions. I honestly didn’t and don’t care about my daughter going to a prestigious college. I just wanted to give her a shot at being considered for a program where her acting talent would be the deciding factor. This sounds hollow now, but, in my mind, I knew that her success or failure in theater or film wouldn’t depend on her math skills.”
On Friday, it was revealed that the prosecution in the case is recommending that Huffman spend one month behind bars for her crimes and pay a $20,000 fine. She would also have to do 250 hours of community service work and spend a year on probation. The prosecution feels that if celebrities see Huffman do actual jail time, they would be hesitant to make mistakes similar to the ones she has.