Lifetime tackled the nationwide colleges admissions scandal in a new film, The College Admissions Scandal, but the movie didn’t reference Lori Loughlin or Felicity Huffman by name.
The made-for-TV flick, which aired on Saturday, October 12, instead followed an interior designer named Caroline (Penelope Ann Miller) and a single mother named Bethany (Mia Kirshner). Both women do, however, pay bribes to Rick Singer to help their respective children get into college. Singer, who was arrested in March after several parents allegedly paid him to facilitate their kids’ admissions into elite universities, was the only real-life character in the film.
Director Adam Salky told Los Angeles magazine earlier this month that the movie “was not about any of the real families” for a reason.
“We looked at all the families involved and we kind of said to ourselves, ‘What kind of people were part of this? There were people connected to Rick, people who want the kids to go to those kinds of schools, people who had a certain socioeconomic level,’ and we really actually tried to avoid any similarities to anyone specific with regards to the families,” Salky explained. “But Rick Singer is a real character in our film. … I think Rick was able to make parents feel like they could have some degree of control over the process and that was the power that he was selling.”
Loughlin, for her part, pleaded not guilty pleaded not guilty to fraud and money laundering charges in April. The Full House alum and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, were accused of paying $500,000 to guarantee that their daughters, Bella, 21, and Olivia Jade, 20, would be admitted to the University of Southern California as part of the crew team — even though the girls did not play the sport.
“Lori and Moss are reacting and handling the scandal completely differently,” a source told Us Weekly last month. “Moss is in good spirits and continues to socialize as if nothing’s wrong — either he’s in complete denial or it’s a front that he’s mastered so nobody judges him.”
Huffman, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to paying $15,000 to Singer’s fake charity to change her now 19-year-old daughter Sophia’s SAT scores. She was sentenced to 14 days in prison on September 13. The Desperate Housewives alum is set to serve her time later this month.
“I accept the court’s decision today without reservation. I have always been prepared to accept whatever punishment Judge Talwani imposed,” Huffman said in court. “I broke the law. I have admitted that and I pleaded guilty to this crime. There are no excuses or justifications for my actions. Period.”
Huffman and husband William H. Macy are also parents of 17-year-old daughter Georgia.
