Katie Couric sat down with Stephen Collins in an exclusive interview, in which the actor admits to accusations of sexual misconduct with three female minors, telling the Yahoo Global News anchor, “I’m a flawed person.”
In a teaser clip for the interview that will be posted on Yahoo on Friday in conjunction with an airing of the interview on ABC’s 20/20 on the same day, the 7th Heaven actor responds to come questions posed by Couric.
When asked if he felt he was living a double life while portraying a minister on the 90s WB show, the 67-year-old beleagured actor said he didn’t.
“No, because first of all I had put that stuff behind me,” Collins says. “I’m a flawed person.”
In fact, he went on to say that it is his faith that has helped bring healing in the aftermath of his past mistakes.
“In the church, it’s actually one of the things I love about the church … Christ says in so many ways, ‘Bring me that which about you is broken. Bring it.’ And, most people are broken in some way,” he said.
'Something unthinkably wrong had just happened': Stephen Collins exclusive preview http://t.co/vM2GCdspaQ pic.twitter.com/CgPrmwWvuI
— Yahoo Canada News (@YahooCanadaNews) December 18, 2014
The clip shows Collins telling Couric that he has tried to make amends in his private life and wishes his personal life could have remained private.
“Most people either get to or have to or choose to hide it,” he said. “This came out. I didn’t choose this to come out. I didn’t want to have to deal with these things publicly. I had dealt with them very, very strongly and committedly in my private life. I think I’m a human being with flaws and I’ve done everything I can to address them.”
Collins also sent a statement to People, in which he says he apologized to one of the victims about 15 years after the encounter. However, according to the statement released to the magazine, he has been advised against contacting the other two.
“After I learned in the course of my treatment that my being direct about such matters could actually make things worse for them by opening old wounds, I have not approached the other two women, one of whom is now in her 50s and the other in her 30s,” he said.
Collins said the past is the past, and he has “not had an impulse to act out in any such way” in the last 20 years.
EXCLUSIVE: #StephenCollins admits, 'I'm a flawed person.': http://t.co/JMTh409d4G @abc2020 @peoplemag pic.twitter.com/SFiLTN8t9a
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) December 18, 2014
Revelations of alleged sexual misconduct came to light when TMZ released a recording of him in October admitting to child molestation. Collins claims his estranged wife recorded the January 2012 therapy session in which he discussed his past without his knowledge.
“After I learned in the course of my treatment that my being direct about such matters could actually make things worse for them by opening old wounds, I have not approached the other two women, one of whom is now in her 50s and the other in her 30s,” he said in the statement to People.
“On the recording, I described events that took place 20, 32, and 40 years ago,” Collins went on to say. “The publication of the recording has resulted in assumptions and innuendos about what I did that go far beyond what actually occurred. As difficult as this is, I want people to know the truth.”