Felicity Huffman emerged in public for the first time since holing up inside her Los Angeles compound on Friday.
The Oscar-nominated actress, 56, had a big smile on her face as she and husband William H Macy went to meet with her probation officer for the first time in Los Angeles on Monday morning after her release from prison last week.
Huffman will now spend a year on probation for paying $15,000 for a proctor to falsify her daughter’s standardized aptitude test in order to get the teen a higher score.
She will also have to pay a $30,000 fine, serve 250 hours of community service.
The Desperate Housewives star was released from the Federal Correctional institution on Dublin, California in the early hours of Friday after serving just 11 days of a 14-day sentence.
DailyMail.com obtained the first picture of Huffman after her release, as she and Macy huddled together in a terminal at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank after arriving on an Alaska Airlines flight.
Happy Huffman: Felicity Huffman (above on Monday) was seen smiling as she went to meet with her probation officer for the first time on Monday morning in Los Angeles
Back in black: The Emmy-nominated actress was released from the FCI Dublin in northern California in Friday, 11 days into her 14 days sentence
Double trouble: She was joined by her husband William H Macy, who covered his face as he and Huffman entered the courthouse
Cashmere mafia: Huffman must now spend a year on probation, pay a $30,000 fine and serve 250 hours of community service
Behind bars: She was sentenced to prison after paying $15,000 for a proctor to falsify her daughter’s standardized aptitude test in order to get the teen a higher score
Huffman was one of the first defendants convicted in the college admissions scandal to be sentenced and is now out of prison months before most of her fellow defendants.
The actress did however manage to draw the ire of some who saw her early release as yet another example of white privilege.
Huffman found a way to game the system however by reporting on a Tuesday for her two week sentence, which allowed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to release her Friday.
She already received credit for one day served following the time she spent in custody after being detained by FBI agents back in March.
‘The Bureau of Prisons may release an inmate whose release date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, on the last preceding weekday unless it is necessary to detain the inmate for another jurisdiction seeking custody under a detainer, or for any other reason which might indicate that the inmate should not be released until the inmate’s scheduled release date,’ reads the loophole that got Huffman out two days ahead of schedule.
She was photographed on multiple occasions while on the grounds of the low-security prison in a deep green shirt and pants that underwhelmed at least one former convict.
‘She should style her outfit a little bit more. She looked pretty schlumpy,’ said Martha Stewart at the VF Summit.
‘She made a horrible mistake, and she’s experiencing what happens.’
Chauffeur: The pair were seen being dropped off by their daughter, whose SAT exam lead to the charge against Huffman
Farg-off: Macy has remained by his wife’s side throughout this ordeal, and was seen visiting her in prison during her brief stay
Dressed to impress: Huffman wore a pair of scalloped ballet flats from Chloe that retail for $515 and carried a purse
Grinning and winning: The decision to release Huffman early seemed to fly in the face of the punishment handed down by Judge Indira Talwani when she sentenced the actress to just 14 days in jail
Glum in the sun: This early release also comes on the heels of a sentencing hearing that stressed the disparity between the incarceration of white and non-white offenders
The decision to release Huffman early seemed to fly in the face of the punishment handed down by Judge Indira Talwani when she sentenced the actress.
‘The outrage in this case is a system that is already so distorted by money and privilege in the first place,’ noted Judge Talwani last month.
‘And that in a system in that context, that you took the step of having one more advantage to put your child ahead.’
At the same time, Huffman expressed remorse for her actions and a willingness to accept whatever sentence was handed down in her courtroom remarks as well as legal filings.
‘I accept the court’s decision today without reservation. I have always been prepared to accept whatever punishment Judge Talwani imposed,’ said Huffman in court.
Seen: Huffman and Macy were seen on Friday at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank in a photo obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com (above)
‘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.’
This early release also comes on the heels of a sentencing hearing that stressed the disparity between the incarceration of white and non-white offenders.
Assistant US Attorney Eric Rosen came armed with a number of cases where lower-class Americans who committed similar offenses to Huffman, and for far more altruistic reasons, were sent to prison.
‘Wealthy people who get their picture taken get off, poor people who garner little more than a press release go to jail,’ said Rosen.
‘In prison, there is no paparazzi, in prison everyone is treated the same, wears the same clothes and is subject to the same rules.’
One of those cases, in Akron, Ohio, resulted in a mother being sentenced to 10 days in jail because she wanted her daughter to get into a better public school and falsified her address.
‘If a poor, single mom from Akron goes to jail, there is no reason why a wealthy, privileged mother should avoid the same fate,’ said Rosen.
That women, Kelley Williams-Bolar, was actually sentenced to and served 9 days behind bars, but only after Governor John Kasich of Ohio commuted her initial sentence of five years.
Her crime was using a fake address that actually belonged to her father to enroll her tow young children in another school district.
Tanya McDowell of Brdgeport, Connecticut was sentenced to five years in prison on first-degree larceny charges that were brought after she used her son’s babysitter’s address to enroll him in an elementary school in the neighboring town of Norwalk.
That sentence also included two incidents in which McDowell sold narcotics to undercover officers.
Made in the shade: Huffman showed off a high-low look that also included a tote bag from the Gap that retails for less than $50
Weathering the storm: Wealthy people who get their picture taken get off, poor people who garner little more than a press release go to jail,’ said Rosen
No prferential treatment: ‘In prison, there is no paparazzi, in prison everyone is treated the same, wears the same clothes and is subject to the same rules,’ said Rosen
Up, up and away: ‘I have broken the law, deceived the educational community, betrayed my daughter, and failed my family,’ wrote Huffman in her letter to Judge Talwani
Handshakes: Huffman was in high spirits ad she left the meeting on Monday morning, her first official day of probation
A number of people brought up this disparity in tweets
Prosecutors also made a few not-so-subtle references to Huffman’s fame and fortune in their sentencing memo, suggesting that probation at her California compound would be more like a vacation.
‘Neither probation nor home confinement (in a large home in the Hollywood Hills with an infinity pool) would constitute meaningful punishment or deter others from committing similar crimes,’ read the court filing submitted last week.
In a letter to Judge Talwani that was obtained by DailyMail.com, Huffman detailed the tearful confrontation she had with her children after her arrest.
That same court filing also revealed that on the morning of Huffman’s arrest, her teenage daughters woke up to find FBI agents with guns drawn to their heads.
‘I have broken the law, deceived the educational community, betrayed my daughter, and failed my family,’ wrote Huffman in her letter to Judge Talwani.
‘When my daughter looked at me and asked with tears streaming down her face, “Why didn’t you believe in me? Why didn’t you think I could do it on my own?” I had no adequate answer for her.’
Huffman continued: ‘I could only say, “I am sorry. I was frightened and I was stupid.”‘
She then explained how this one decision caused her entire life to fall apart.
‘In my blind panic, I have done the exact thing that I was desperate to avoid,’ said Huffman.
‘I have compromised my daughter’s culture, the wholeness of my family and my own integrity.’
The actress also got support from over 30 friends and family members, with her siblings, Eva Longoria, Macy, Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry and more writing letters on her behalf that were filed in court.
Humble home: Huffman has acquired over $20 million worth of real estate with her husband Macy over the past two decades (the couple’s primary residence in LA, valued at $4 million)
Hollywood Hills: They live in the uber exclusive Outpost estates neighborhood in Los Angeles, where they own a $4M home and the neighboring $3.8M property (above)
Fall from grace: Huffman’s real estate holdings were referenced in court when a judge set her bail at $1M for her alleged plot to falsify her daughter’s SAT score (the master bedroom at the neighboring property in LA)
Huffman and Macy went from critically-acclaimed actors to global superstars almost overnight back in 2004 following the success of Huffman’s television series Desperate Housewives.
Forbes reported that in the final two seasons of the show alone, Huffman took home $17 million for her Emmy-winning work.
Once cameras had stopped rolling, she and her husband purchased a 4,566-square-foot home with five bedrooms and three bathrooms in the Outpost Estate neighborhood of Los Angeles.
That is where Marilyn Monroe and Gore Vidal once lived, and where Huffman and Macy were already living at the time.
The home they purchased was actually next door to their own Hollywood Hills home, giving them a massive three-acre complex with two main houses.
Real Estalker reported at the time that the $3.8 million property included ‘a good-sized motor court, a semi-detached three car garage, broad flat lawns in both the front and back and a large swimming pool surrounded by a palm tree dotted terrace.’
Their own home was purchased in 1998, and has undergone major renovations over the years.
It is now valued at $4 million, bringing the cost of the combined compound to just under $8 million.
The couple has been renting out that new property for $19,500 per month while living next door in their own massive estate.