Abby Lee Miller has some advice to share with Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman following their alleged involvement in the U.S. college admissions scam.
After pleading guilty to bankruptcy fraud in June 2016, Miller was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison in May 2017.
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She started her sentence on July 12, 2017 and was released last March.
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The 52-year-old reality star told Entertainment Tonight that she had “lots of advice” to share with Huffman and Loughlin.
Huffman pleaded guilty earlier this month and entered the plea to a charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
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Huffman entered her plea two months after she was arrested in the investigation, named “Operation Varsity Blues,” and accused of paying $15,000 to rig her daughter’s SAT score.
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Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli pleaded not guilty on April 15 to charges that they had allegedly paid $500,000 in bribes to get their daughters into the University of Southern California (USC).
The couple is among 50 prominent parents, athletic coaches and others charged in a sweeping college admissions bribery scam that has embroiled elite schools across the U.S., such as Stanford, Georgetown and Yale.
Loughlin and Giannulli filed court documents waiving their right to appear for an arraignment and entering not guilty pleas to the two charges against them. The judge granted their requests, meaning they will not have to show up at Boston’s federal court to be arraigned.
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“Don’t hire a prison consultant. That’s one,” Miller told ET about what she would tell both actresses, who could possibly be serving jail time in the future. “Be open with people. They are celebrities. People know them from TV. TV’s a big deal in prison. A big deal. People watch it nonstop so they’re gonna be interested in what it was like to be on a TV show. You know, what’s it like to, you know, be married to John Stamos? … What are all these things like? They’re gonna want to know.”
She continued: “They’re interested, and I think if they share their stories and their tales of woe and all that, they will be just fine. And I also think, you know, it’s important to listen to every other woman’s story because everybody there just wants to tell their own story and be heard. I think that’s what I learned most. Everybody’s there because of some, you know, crazy nonsense, stupid mistakes that we made …. and they still are just trying to tell their story.”
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Miller told ET that the hardest thing she would prepare Huffman and Loughlin for was the interactions with the prison guards because “it was bad. It was really bad — more so the female guards than the male.”
She said that she felt like some guards were harder on her because of how she’s portrayed on the show Dance Moms.
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“In my particular situation, they were — because of… my characterization on television and what I’m known for, and you know, screaming at the kids and yelling at the moms everybody wants to have their chance to get a baseball bat and smack me in the face with it,” she said. “That’s what it was like. I don’t think Felicity and Lori are gonna hit that same thing, ’cause that’s not the persona they have on TV. I think (Loughlin is) still going to be (America’s sweetheart).”
Sentencing for Huffman is set for Sept. 13. Prosecutors said they would recommend four months in prison. She has apologized and says she will accept the consequences.
Each of the charges against Loughlin and Giannulli calls for up to 20 years in prison, although first-time offenders would get only a small fraction of that if convicted.
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