“We did this because we thought we were helping.” That’s what Penelope Ann Miller’s Caroline says in the new trailer for Lifetime’s The College Admissions Scandal, which dropped on Friday, September 6. The ripped-from-the-headlines movie will follow Caroline and Bethany (portrayed by Mia Kirshner) playing two wealthy women who are obsessed with getting their teenagers into the best colleges.
The film is inspired by Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin‘s stories; in the movie, Caroline pays big in order to alter her daughter’s SAT scores. Huffman, 56, pleaded guilty to charges of honest services mail fraud after she was accused of paying $15,000 to help her daughter, Sophia, 19, pass the SAT to get into college.
Bethany, on the other hand, is accused of making a half million dollars to get her daughter onto an athletic team at an elite college. “You are worth every penny of the half million dollars that we paid you,” she says in a recording in the trailer.
In real life, Loughlin, 55, and husband Mossimo Giannulli were accused of paying $500,000 to get daughters Bella, 20, and Olivia Jade, 19, into the University of Southern California. The couple, who pleaded not guilty, are currently facing 40 years in prison. The Fuller House alum rejected a plea deal offered in April and now is second-guessing her decision, a source told Us Weekly exclusively.
“Lori regrets not doing what Felicity did,” the insider says in the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now. Another source added: “Lori was inclined to take the deal, but Mossimo said it would ruin both of their careers.”
The College Admissions Scandal airs on Lifetime Saturday, October 12, at 8 p.m. ET.
