Stephen Collins, best known for his role as Reverend Eric Camden on the long running TV show 7th Heaven, has confessed to the sexual abuse of three young girls between 1973 and 1994.
According to a report from People.com, Collins released a written statement to the publication, in which he admits to sexual contact with the three minors.
The actor has remained out of the spotlight ever since a recording of him confessing to child molestation was released to TMZ. In his written report he details those incidents.
“I have not had an impulse to act out in any such way” in the last 20 years,” he reportedly writes in his essay for People.
He also explains why he hasn’t apologized to his victims.
“I did have an opportunity to do so with one of the women, 15 years later. I apologized and she was extraordinarily gracious,” he explains. “But 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.”
"7th Heaven" dad Stephen Collins admits to sexual molestation of underage girls http://t.co/gKwZ77mn6G pic.twitter.com/vaTh8xpPx4
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 17, 2014
“Forty years ago, I did something terribly wrong that I deeply regret. I have been working to atone for it ever since. I’ve decided to address these issues publicly because two months ago, various news organizations published a recording made by my then-wife, Faye Grant, during a confidential marriage therapy session in January, 2012. This session was recorded without the therapist’s or my knowledge or consent,” Stephen Collins writes.
“On the recording, I described events that took place 20, 32, and 40 years ago,” he adds. “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.”
Stephen Collins will talk with Katie Couric during that will air both during an exclusive interview on ABC’s 20/20 on this coming Friday, as well as during a Yahoo! live stream that same day.
This is such a devastating revelation–not only for those involved–but for fans, too. Those who faithfully watched 7th Heaven believed Reverend Camden–and the man who portrayed him–was a trustworthy man. How sad for fans to now realize what they watched for all those years was a lie.
It will be interesting to learn if any of Stephen Collins’s 7th Heaven cast mates–Jessica Biel, Beverley Mitchell, Catherine Hicks, Barry Watson, and more–will eventually comment on the situation.