CNN
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As Elizabeth Holmes reported to prison on Tuesday, Amanda Seyfried shared her thoughts on the disgraced Theranos founder’s sentence.
The actor, who portrayed Holmes in Emmy-winning series “The Dropout,” visited “Good Morning America” Tuesday to discuss her new show “The Crowded Room,” and acknowledged that the timing was “weird” that Holmes was beginning her sentence at the same time.
Beth Dubber/Hulu
Amand Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes in “The Dropout.”
“I feel for those kids,” Seyfried said, referring to Holmes’ two young children. “There’s two kids that are hanging in the balance here.”
The “Mamma Mia” star, mother to two children herself, added that it affected her “as a parent, as a mom” as well.
“Life’s not fair,” Seyfried added, “but in a lot of ways, it’s fair. For her, in particular.”
Holmes was sentenced in November to 11 years and three months in prison for defrauding investors while running her failed blood testing startup Theranos.
Holmes and Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani – her ex-boyfriend and former Theranos COO, also convicted of fraud – are ordered to pay restitution of roughly $452 million to victims of their crimes.
Holmes founded Theranos, a startup that claimed to have invented technology that could accurately test for a range of conditions using just a few drops of blood, in 2003. The company raised $945 million from an impressive list of investors and was valued at some $9 billion at its peak – making Holmes a paper billionaire. She graced magazine covers and engaged in public speaking events wearing a black turtleneck that invited comparisons to the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
Her promises of Theranos’ abilities grew increasingly tenuous as suspicions arose as to the efficacy of the science behind the company’s central product and machinery, culminating in a jaw-dropping downfall that was explored in numerous podcasts, a documentary and the Hulu dramatization starring Seyfried.
Holmes, once an icon in the tech world serving as a posterchild for the limitless ambitions and potential of Silicon Valley, became the rare tech executive tried for – and convicted on – fraud charges.
In March, Holmes sought to delay the start of her sentence, citing her children. That appeal was denied.
