Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy’s family may have been thrust into the spotlight due to the actress’ involvement in the 2019 college admissions scandal, but before that, they preferred to keep their two daughters, Sophia and Georgia, out of the public eye.
“They weren’t even watching TV until Sophia broke her collarbone trying to do a handstand,” Macy told PEOPLE in 2017. “So we put her in front of the TV and she started watching movies for the first time.”
Huffman and Macy, who star in Prime Video Ricky Stanickythey first met in the early 1980s and dated on and off for 15 years before marrying in 1997. They welcomed their older daughter, Sophia, in 2000, and their younger daughter, Georgia, two years later.
When Sophia was 18, Huffman was arrested and accused of paying a proctor to change her older daughter’s SAT scores. The Housewives the actress later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud and served 11 days in jail.
Although Macy has not been charged in connection with the incident, he stood by his wife during the headline-grabbing scandal, writing, “every good thing in my life is because of Felicity Huffman” in a letter of support to a judge before Huffman’s sentencing in September 2019.
William H. Macy says Felicity Huffman’s relationship with daughters ‘exploded’ after scandal
Huffman first spoke about her role in the college admissions scandal in November 2023. During an interview with ABC-7 Eyewitness News, the Oscar-nominated actress explained that she thought the “criminal plan” was “the only option to give my daughter a future .”
“People assume I got into this looking for a way to cheat the system and make proverbial back-alley criminal deals, but that wasn’t the case,” she said, later adding, “I felt like I had to give my daughter a chance for a future. And so it was like my daughter’s future, which meant I had to break the law.”
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Sophia retook the SAT and was accepted into Carnegie Mellon University’s theater program, which she currently attends. Georgia entered Vassar College in 2020 and is expected to graduate in 2024.
“They’re really cool young women and really fun to be around and smart as whips,” Macy told PEOPLE of her children in 2017. “They’re above average.”
Here’s everything you need to know about Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy’s two daughters.
Sophia Grace Macy, 23
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Huffman and Macy welcomed their first child, a daughter named Sophia Grace Macy, on August 1, 2000. Becoming a mother for the first time at age 37 was an experience that Huffman “struggled with so hard,” she later revealed. Los Angeles Times. “I didn’t enter motherhood with any sense of calm or grace.”
Huffman explained that she felt her heart “burst” when Sophia was born. “I felt up to the task,” the actress said of parenting. “I felt like I was going from mistake to mistake, forever deprived of sleep.”
Although Macy understood that motherhood “scared” Huffman, he praised her parenting skills from the start. “From the day we found out Sophia Grace Macy was going, Felicity threw herself into parenting,” Macy wrote in a letter of support to the judge ahead of Huffman’s sentencing in 2019. “She read mountains of books and sought out the best and brightest on the subject. She sought out parents whose children impressed her and took care of their upbringing.”
Macy and Huffman’s parenting philosophy involved making a concerted effort to raise their daughters away from the public eye. “We have decided to keep them as far away from our business as possible,” Macy’s explained in the letter. That included avoiding Hollywood events and the paparazzi – but it didn’t stop Sophia from getting an acting bug herself.
Sophia attended Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, which emphasizes the performing arts. There she honed her acting talent, winning awards and leading roles in school drama productions, according to The The New York Times.
“She’s thriving there,” Macy said Parade magazine in January 2019. “I know she’s going to make it in business, which I support. I’ve seen her; she’s good, she’s really good.”
But before Sophia could launch her acting career, her mother was embroiled in a college cheating scandal. Huffman was arrested in March 2019 during Sophia’s senior year of high school for paying a proctor $15,000 to correct her SAT answers — allegedly without Sophia’s knowledge. She pleaded guilty and served 11 days in prison.
“My daughter knew absolutely nothing about my actions, and I betrayed her in my own wrong and deeply wrong way,” Huffman said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. “I will carry this transgression against her and the public for the rest of my life.”
Sophia Grace Macy and Georgia Grace Macy.
William H. Macy Instagram
Sophia’s college admission was revoked in 2019 after news of a cheating scandal broke. However, she still graduated from high school in June 2019 and continued to pursue college and acting. In the fall of 2020, she enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University as a student in their prestigious theater program. She also made her acting debut in the second season of Jordan Peele’s CBS show Twilight Zone earlier that year.
“I’m so grateful,” Sophia wrote on Instagram about her role in Twilight Zone. She also called the experience “an absolute pleasure” in a separate post.
In February 2024, Macy’s said Hey! News that he is excited that Sophia is starting to act.
“I love this job. I thought if I could do it, anyone could,” he said.
Georgia Grace Macy, 22
William H. Macy and Georgia Grace Macy in Central Park, New York.
William H. Macy Instagram
Macy and Huffman’s second daughter, Georgia Grace Macy, was born in Los Angeles on March 14, 2002. Becoming a mother to two young children overwhelmed Huffman, but it also helped land her one of her most famous acting roles: Lynette Scavo in Housewives.
Huffman recalled to PEOPLE in 2008 that she “just left two people screaming [toddlers] in the bathtub” as she headed into her audition for the television show. When the producers asked her how she felt about being a mother, she honestly replied, “It’s really hard and I’m losing my mind.” The producers later told her that this honest answer and her “brain ” looks eventually landed her the role of Lynette.
In 2007, Macy spoke about his younger daughter’s personality traits. “Georgia is like her mother: fierce,” the actor said, adding that she was also “so smart, like Felicity.” But unlike her famous parents and older sister, Georgia wasn’t interested in acting – she preferred politics.
“She’s interested in politics, political science, and she’s into it,” Macy said Parade magazine in January 2019. “She’s in a very academic school and she’s killing it.”
Gregg DeGuire/WireImage
Georgia currently attends Vassar College in New York, where she is scheduled to graduate in 2024. Her Instagram reveals that she enjoys outdoor activities, including horseback riding, skiing, and the beach.
She also appears to be close with her parents and older sister, despite Macy saying that Huffman’s relationship with her daughters “exploded” after the college admissions scandal. “I must have done something good in my past life to deserve a family like this,” Georgia wrote on Instagram in November 2022.
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Source: HIS Education