Things aren’t entirely bleak for Felicity Huffman, who is facing prison time after pleading guilty last month to paying $15,000 in bribes to have her oldest daughter’s SAT score boosted as part of the nationwide college admissions scandal.
On Monday, the disgraced “Desperate Housewives” star celebrated the high school graduation of that daughter, Sofia Grace Macy.
Huffman, 56, and her husband, William H. Macy, 69, were photographed hanging out with friends and family outside the graduation ceremony for the Los Angeles High School of the Arts, TMZ reported.
The actress had a big smile on her face — as if she didn’t have a care in the world, Page Six said.
As the college admissions scandal rages on, Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy proudly attended their daughter's high school graduation ceremony https://t.co/XycSHYcgcg pic.twitter.com/Y4BanHDYeu
— HollywoodLife (@HollywoodLife) June 11, 2019
even Felicity Huffman can't believe she showed up to the graduation pic.twitter.com/lykUkORqAd
— Francesca Bacardi (@OriginalFresca) June 11, 2019
Huffman’s career situation isn’t all that bleak either — not like fellow actress Lori Loughlin, who was dropped from the Hallmark Channel and the Netflix “Full House” reboot after she was charged in the federal bribery case.
Huffman has won grudging praise in the past two weeks for playing former Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor Linda Fairstein in “When They See Us,” Ava DuVernay’s acclaimed new Netflix series about the 1989 Central Park Five rape case.
While critics are hesitant to lavish too many accolades on Huffman as she’s mired in a federal criminal case, her villainous, scenery-chewing portrayal of Fairstein, who led the wrongful prosecution of five black and Latino teenagers, has sparked a backlash against the attorney-turned-novelist. In the series, Fairstein is shown badgering police and fellow prosecutors to secure confessions and to hide exculpatory evidence from the defense.
Dutton, the boutique publisher owned by Penguin Books, has dropped Fairstein, and an online #CancelLindaFairstein campaign has called for book retailers to stop selling her mystery novels, according to a number of outlets.
Indeed, it appears that the controversy over Fairstein has briefly drawn ire away from Huffman, who, along with Loughlin, has been one of the most public and vilified faces of the college admissions scandal.
The two actresses are among 33 wealthy parents who were charged with paying tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to get their children admitted to prestigious U.S. colleges, either by having their SAT or ACT scores boosted or by having them falsely designated as athletic recruits
Crisis management P.R. experts have said that Huffman did her reputation a huge favor by accepting a plea deal from prosecutors and by apologizing for her role in the scandal. Prosecutors want Huffman to spend four to 10 months in prison, but experts say that accepting this consequence is necessary for her to rehabilitate her public image.
On the other hand, Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, have refused a plea deal and are fighting the charges.
When announcing her intention to plead guilty, Huffman apologized for the pain she had caused “the educational community,” her friends and her family — notably her oldest daughter. She insisted her daughter had no knowledge of her bribery scheme with college admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer.
“This transgression toward (my daughter) and the public I will carry for the rest of my life,” Huffman said in a statement. “My desire to help my daughter is no excuse to break the law or engage in dishonesty.”
What Huffman and prosecutors haven’t addressed is why Macy, the star of TV’s “Shameless,” also wasn’t charged for this “transgression.” The criminal complaint shows that the actor appeared to be aware of his wife’s alleged scheme with Singer and may even have participated in some of the planning.
Bradley D. Simon, a former assistant U.S. attorney, told the New York Times that Macy may have avoided charged by cooperating with investigators and providing important information about others’ involvement.
If Sofia Macy felt that her mother, or both her parents, betrayed her, those wounds may have healed, at least according to reports about her family’s celebratory mood at her graduation ceremony, which took place the the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
Sofia, 18, a theater graduate, performed a 10-minute piece that involved reciting soliloquies from various plays, the Daily Mail reported. She then changed into a floral dress to sing with an ensemble.
As she collected her diploma she mouthed “I love you” to a teacher who had read out her name, the Daily Mail added.
Sofia is not heading off to college right away, taking what may be a gap year, the Daily Mail added.
The family has been celebrating Sofia’s graduation for at least two weeks. In late Macy, Macy was photographed leaving a West Hollywood grocery store, holding balloons with the messages “Congrats Grad” and “You Did It!” He also loaded a cake into his Porsche convertible, according to a Daily Mail report at the time.