American actress Felicity Huffman has been sentenced to 14 days jail term for her involvement in a college admissions scandal in Boston, Massachusetts on Friday. The 53-year-old award-winning actress will have to do 250 hours of community service, and pay 30,000 dollars as fine. The judge has given her six weeks time to report to prison.

The former Desperate Housewives actress was given one year of supervised release, and the community service was working one-on-one with children. Her husband, William H. Macy, was present in court.

The actress admitted to paying 15,000 dollars (11,500 pounds) to have her eldest daughter's, Sophia, 19, exam answer sheets secretly corrected in 2017. All this to get her admitted into an elite college by cheating on the SAT. In total 50 people including parents and athletics coaches were charged in the scandal, BBC reports. However, the children haven't been indicted.

Huffman cried before she was sentenced and told the judge that she took full responsibility for her actions and was prepared for whatever sentencing was handed down. She apologised to her husband and her children, Sophia and Georgia, 17, saying that she has betrayed them.

"There are no excuses or justifications for my actions. Period. I would like to apologise again to my daughter, my husband, my family and the educational community for my actions," said Huffman, in a statement after she was sentenced.

She also apologised to the students who worked hard regularly to get into college, and also to their parents who made "tremendous sacrifices supporting their children."

She told that she was fearful of Sophia' "sensory modulation issues" as she felt that the latter would be ignored at acting auditions for top schools. Huffman also admitted that she even considered altering Georgia's scores too.

Felicity Huffman sentenced
Actress Felicity Huffman, shown leaving Boston's federal courthouse on September 13, 2019 escorted by her husband William H. Macy, had pleaded guilty to paying $15,000 to boost her daughter's SAT college entrance exam score. Photo: AFP / Joseph Prezioso

The actress told the courtroom how Sophia told her that she no longer knew who she was. Huffman however, promised to try and live an honest life in the coming months and years and be a better role model for her daughters and family. She was hopeful that her family, friends and community would forgive her for her "actions".

The Golden Globe Award-winning actress formally pleaded guilty to mail fraud and honest services back in April.