Huffman returns in ‘Otherhood’
College admissions scandal delayed release
Admissions scandal delayed Nexflix show.
Empty-nester mom movie “Otherhood” starring Felicity Huffman is finally hitting Netflix.
Pushed back from its original spring release due to the brouhaha surrounding Huffman’s involvement in the college admissions scandal, “Otherhood” finally premieres on the streaming service Friday.
The film follows three moms – Huffman as Helen, Angela Bassett as Carol and Patricia Arquette as Gillian – as they struggle being left behind after their adult children begin to lead their own lives.
The friends don’t quite know how to handle things now that they’re “others” instead of mothers. The three women pack up and surprise their sons – who
forget them on Mother’s Day! – with a visit to New York.
“You know who you are without me,” Carol tells her son. “I need to figure out who I am without you.”
‘Beginning rather than an ending’
In the film, Carol, a widow, decides she needs some time to figure out who she is when she’s not a mother, and temporarily moves in with her son Matt (Sinqua Walls), a successful art director. He’s not overly happy about it.
The movie is about the mothers’ relationships with their sons, their deep friendship with each other, but also with themselves and what they want out of life, said executive producer Cindy Chupack.
“The women need to figure out who they are in this stage beyond motherhood – otherhood – which might be a beginning rather than an ending,” Chupack told TV Insider.
Stars speak out on scandal
The movie production wrapped before the story broke about the scandal. But more recently her co-stars praised how Huffman handled being accused of paying $15,000 to have her daughter’s SAT answers corrected.
While doing press for the movie, Arquette said she believes her co-star is “sincerely truly sorry.” “I think she dealt with it the best way that you can deal with it, but I know she’s probably carrying a lot of shame and guilt,” Arquette told Entertainment Tonight.
Bassett told The New York Times, “We all make mistakes. None of us is perfect. She held herself accountable and didn’t make excuses for her decisions, and I can only respect that.”
Status of Huffman’s legal case?
In May, a tearful Huffman, 56, pleaded guilty to charges in the nation’s largest college admissions scandal, becoming the highest-profile defendant to admit to crimes in the blockbuster case. She is scheduled to be sentenced September 13 in federal court in Boston.
As part of a plea deal, federal prosecutors recommended she get a fourmonth prison sentence, substantially lower than the maximum of 20 years the charges carry.