Ugh. This is a disgusting story, but it’s big news, so here it is. Actor, Stephen Collins, who played the pastor/dad on the WB series, 7th Heaven, confessed to his estranged wife in a therapy session that he was a child molester. Unbeknownst to him, she tape recorded his entire confession, and TMZ has a copy.
Warning: Collins goes into detail about how he molested pre-teen girls. If any of that is triggering for you, don’t listen to the recording. It is absolutely awful.
Stephen Collins admits to child molestation.
Via TMZ:
You hear Collins flatly confess to molesting an 11-year-old New York girl — a relative of his first wife — saying, “There was one moment of touching where her hand, I put her hand on my penis.” He also acknowledges exposing himself to the girl “a couple of times” … he says when she was 11, 12 and 13.
Grant asks, “When you exposed yourself … did you have an erection?” He responds, “No, I mean, no. Partial, maybe I think.”
Grant then inquires about other girls. Collins mentions an L.A. girl who lived in their neighborhood, but says he tried righting the wrong by apologizing to her years later.
So yeah…Collins goes on and on like that. His estranged wife, Faye Grant, recorded the session on advice from her lawyer. Apparently, in California, it’s legal to secretly record conversations to gather evidence if the other person committed a violent felony. Molesting a child under the age of 14 qualifies.
According to TMZ, the New York Police Dept. is now conducting an active criminal investigation involving sexual contact with multiple children.
Since the story broke late last night, Collins has been fired from the Seth MacFarlane film, Ted 2 in which he had a small role. He’s also resigned from the board of the Screen Actors Guild, the union that represents film and television actors.
TMZ also has details about the molestation of a girl who was a relative of Collins’ first wife. She’s an adult now, but when she saw him on TV, she recognized him as the man who molested her. The woman contacted Collins wife anonymously in 2000 to inform her that her husband was a child molester. Nothing happened until 12 years later, when Grant reached out to her after Collins confessed to the molestations.
UPDATE: 7th Heaven reruns have been pulled from the UP Network.
