Stephen Collins may have played the kind-hearted dad on many television shows and movies, but according to his ex-wife, he had a secret life that was anything but similar to the lives of the men he played on television.
Collins’ ex-wife Faye Grant admitted in a statement to the courts in 2013 that she was aware of such behaviors but had only found out about them a year before the court date concerning their divorce.
“On January 19, 2012, I learned for the first time that Stephen had been living a secret life,” she declared in the official documents, obtained by People. “In the presence of his therapist, Stephen admitted that he had engaged in a long term pattern of sexually abusing minor children, including sexually molesting three young girls over a decade ago.” She goes on to say that she believes Collins has “narcissistic personality disorder with sociopathic tendencies.”
TMZ recently released an audio tape that allegedly captures Collins admitting to the crimes. Grant said that she did not release the tape and had nothing to do with the media finding out about the alleged molestations.
#7thHeaven dad, Stephen Collins, confesses on tape to CHILD MOLESTATION http://t.co/HsDwEV7Gzx pic.twitter.com/qy1WxXObc4
— TMZ (@TMZ) October 8, 2014
“I woke up today to learn that an extremely private recording I handed over to the authorities in 2012 per their request in connection with a criminal investigation was recently disseminated to the press,” Grant said. “I had no involvement whatsoever with the release of the tape to the media.”
Collins and Grant had been married 27 years before they divorced in 2012. The couple had been separated for a while and were trying to work things out. Grant said that in spite of their problems, she was surprised that Collins had filed for divorce.
“Stephen’s filing for divorce is a surprise. I am devastated,” she told E! News at the time. “I wish him the very best in whatever path he chooses to take. Twenty-seven years of marriage in Hollywood is the equivalent of 189 dog years. I was exhausted.”
The divorce was a fairly quiet one in terms of Hollywood couples and Grant and Collins went their separate ways without any problems.
It is not clear how the tape was obtained, but Collins is of course denying the molestation allegations.