THE PRICE OF ADMISSION
WHY THE TWO STARS ARE ON VERY DIFFERENT PATHS RIGHT NOW
Felicity’s freedom & Lori’s fears
They’ve been publicly shamed for their parts in America’s muchpublicised college admissions scandal, but Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin still managed to cut glamorous figures as they made their separate ways around Los Angeles last week.
Desperate Housewives star Felicity (56), fresh from prison after pleading guilty to the charges laid against her, hid beneath a wide-brimmed hat as husband William H. Macy
(69) took her out for a leisurely drive in his classic Porsche.
The following day the pair were on the road again, although this time their day out was less fun, with William taking his wife to her first meeting with her probation officer.
The Emmy award-winner has a full year of probation ahead of her, in addition to 250 hours of community service, which she is choosing to do at The Teen Project, an organisation that helps at-risk homeless and sextrafficked young women. She is also required to pay a $47,000 fine after admitting she paid a consultant $23,500 to forge daughter Sophia’s exam papers in order to guarantee the teenager admission to an elite US university.
But her 14-day prison stint – which was reduced to 11 days – is now behind her, and friends say the actress feels “immense relief” that the most dreaded
part of her sentence is over.
It’s a different story, however, for Lori (55), who is caught up in the same scandal but has pleaded not guilty to the accusations against her.
Around the same time that Felicity was driving through LA, Lori was trying to take her mind off her legal nightmare by going to a yoga class.
The Full House actress and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli (56) were hit with fraud charges for paying an intermediary $780,000 in exchange for getting their two daughters into a top university on phony athletic credentials.
To make matters worse, while Felicity was behind bars, Lori and Mossimo had a bribery charge added to their call sheet, which means that if they are found guilty at their trial next year they will each face a maximum of 60 years in prison.
“It’s unlikely they will end up serving anything like that,” a legal source says. “But if they go through with the trial and are found guilty, chances are they’ll be given a substantially longer prison sentence than Felicity.”
A source close to Lori says the stress of the scandal has hit the couple and their daughters Olivia (20) and Isabella (21) hard. The girls are no longer studying at their university and “the entire family is in chaos right now”, with Lori in particular “about to break”.
Adds the source, “It is Lori’s position that she was not some sort of criminal mastermind. She just wanted what was best for her daughters and it has turned into an ongoing nightmare.”
Word has it the distraught actress plans to reach out to Felicity to find out what her time was like in prison.
“She feels like Felicity’s time in jail will be an indicator on her own time and she’s extremely curious,” says the source. “She feels like their fates are tied together now, even though they weren’t really friends before.”
While Felicity understands Lori’s anxiety, another insider says the Transamerica star wants to distance herself from the scandal rather than be drawn into Lori’s dramas.
At her sentencing Felicity acknowledged she’d been “stupid” and “wrong”, adding, “I am ashamed of the pain I have caused my daughter, my family, my friends, my colleagues and the educational community.”
The Northern California institution Felicity was sent to has been likened to a “camp” rather than a prison – full of white-collar criminals and boasting a fully-stocked commissary and even the option to buy make-up. Even so, the actress has no intention of setting foot in there again.
“Once that green jumpsuit came off, that was it,” says a source. “She considers that chapter of her life to be over.”
Boogie Nights star William has been Felicity’s rock, adds a family insider, making the five-and-a-half-hour drive to visit her twice while she served her time.
And while Sophia was shocked by what her mum did, the insider confirms their relationship is on the mend.
“Felicity is doing okay.
It’s been stressful and emotionally draining but she is handling it,” says the source.
“She hopes to work again in the future.
Hollywood is a small town and nobody has anything bad to say about her. She feels like she is paying her dues and has shown remorse for her actions. She hopes that she will be accepted again. She is well respected and hopes that she can rebuild her reputation and let her work speak for itself.”