Count Julia Roberts among the many who are appalled at the college admissions cheating scheme that has made national headlines in the last week and resulted in charges against 50 people, including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman.
During an interview with Britain's ITV, the Oscar winner said she’s disheartened by the notion parents would pay bribes to ensure their children get into certain colleges.
“That to me is so sad because I feel, from an outsider, that it says a little bit, ‘I don’t have enough faith in you,’” Roberts said while promoting her movie "Ben Is Back."
In the film, Roberts plays a mother of a drug-addicted teenage son.
“I feel that in [Ben Is Back], this mother is trying to say, ‘I have so much faith in you, I have both our faiths until you can find the faith in yourself again,’” the actress said.
Roberts, 51, says she and husband Danny Moder do their best to make sure their three children — 14-year-old twins Hazel and Finn and 11-year-old son Henry — don’t get too big for their britches.
“My husband and I are very aligned on that front, I think that we live a very normal experience with our children,” she said. “Obviously we have advantages that we didn’t have as children. But I think that’s the unique part of it, coming from the childhood that I have. You do need to know how to make your bed and do your laundry and make one meal. These are important life skills. They have to run their own race. They have to have their own experience.”
The "Pretty Woman" star is not the only celebrity to speak out about the scheme. Huffman's former "Desperate Housewives" co-star, Nicollette Sheridan, was also shocked.
"We don't know the facts," Sheridan told "Access," without specifically mentioning Huffman. "But we could be extremely disturbed by the entitlement, the power and money that can take away from (the) less privileged. And that to me is disgraceful."
Loughlin and Huffman are two of the more high-profile names who've been accused of being involved in the scam. Loughlin was released on $1 million bond and is due in a federal court in Boston on March 29.
The Hallmark Channel, which has a long history of working with the actress, has cut ties with her and announced it will resume production on the drama "When Calls the Heart" without her.