Felicity Huffman Shares Why Her 'Old Life Died' After College Admissions Scandal

In an interview with The Guardian, the 61-year-old actress revealed she's struggled to work in Hollywood after the scandal, dubbed Operation Varsity Blues, sharing that it feels like her "old life died" in the wake of it.

"I walk into the room with it. I did it. It's black and white," admitted Huffman, who served 11 days in prison for her involvement in the scandal.

"I did a pilot for ABC recently that didn't get picked up," she went on to add. "It's been hard. Sort of like your old life died and you died with it. I'm lucky enough to have a family and love and means, so I had a place to land."

When asked how she's doing now, the Desperate Housewives alum said, "How I am is kind of a loaded question. As long as my kids are well and my husband is well, I feel like I’m well."

Huffman -- who shares daughters Sophia, 23, and Georgia, 21, with husband William H. Macy -- added, "I'm grateful to be here. But how am I? I guess I'm still processing."

In March 2019, 50 individuals -- including Huffman and actress Lori Loughlin -- were indicted for paying mastermind William "Rick" Singer to provide various backdoor options for their children to get into elite universities. The allegations included bribing college officials to facilitate cheating on entrance exams such as the SAT and ACT, bribing coaches to designate non-athlete applicants as recruited athletes and using charitable organizations to conceal bribery payments.

In 2019, Huffman was accused of taking part in a scheme to cheat on the SATs by paying $15,000 to a service to boost her daughter Sophia's test scores. She pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, leading to a two-year prison sentence. Huffman served 11 days in total in October 2019, before beginning one year of supervised release, with conditions including 250 hours of community service.

Huffman broke her silence on the scandal for the first time in December during an interview with ABC-7 Eyewitness News, revealing what led to her involvement and sharing why she decided to take drastic measures to get her daughter into a prestigious university.

Looking back, the Oscar nominee admitted she has "undying shame" for her actions.

"It felt like I had to give my daughter a chance at a future," she told ABC-7. "And so it was sort of like my daughter's future, which meant I had to break the law."

Huffman claimed that Singer convinced her that Sophia wouldn't be able to get into "any" of the universities she wanted to on merit alone.

"After a year, he started to say your daughter is not going to get into any of the colleges that she wants to," she recalled. "And I believed him. And so 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. 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 said the FBI came knocking months later, sharing that she initially thought it was a "joke."

"They came into my home. They woke my daughters up at gunpoint. Again, nothing new to the Black and brown community," Huffman said, acknowledging her privilege. "They put my hands behind my back and handcuffed me and I asked if I could get dressed."

"I thought it was a hoax," she admitted. "I literally turned to one of the FBI people, in a flak jacket and a gun, and I went, is this a joke?"

Huffman expressed her regret for her involvement in the scandal.

"I think the people I owe a debt and apology to is the academic community," she said. "And to the students and the families that sacrifice and work really hard to get to where they are going legitimately."