What Felicity Huffman now calls the worst decision of her life came to a head at 6 a.m. March 12, when six federal agents showed up at the door of her Hollywood Hills home, guns drawn, to march the actress, in handcuffs, out of the realm of the beloved and into the realm of the scorned.

Letters that Huffman and her husband, William H. Macy, wrote to the judge who will sentence her next week offer the most detailed explanation to date about how the couple got involved in the scandal and how they are grappling with Huffman’s extraordinary fall from grace.

Both award-winning actors said they were trying to be good parents. Huffman expressed deep regrets for her actions, adding she has disgraced herself and shamed her daughter.

Perhaps because of her acting fame, perhaps because she had dispensed folksy advice on motherhood from her blog, Huffman became a face of an admissions scandal that burst into view six months ago, when federal prosecutors in Massachusetts alleged wealthy parents had for years paid staggering sums to fix their children’s college entrance exams and slip them into elite universities as phony athletes.

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