7th Heaven Star Stephen Collins’ Molestation Apology Is Too Little, Too Late

Actor Stephen Collins, best known as the preacher dad on 7th Heaven, shocked the pop culture world when a leaked recording of a therapy session revealed he had molested three girls. Now, in a statement to People Magazine, he confesses his crimes and says “I have not had an impulse to act out in any such way” since 1994.

“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.”

 

“On the recording, I described events that took place 20, 32, and 40 years ago. 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.”

While I am not a fan of anyone’s privacy being violated, especially in a therapy session, it is very, very hard for me to stomach him playing the victim here. It’s manipulative and, you know, seems like something a dude who ruined the lives of three young women would do.

He also told the magazine he “agonized” over whether to apologize to his victims, though he got the chance with one of them.

“I did have an opportunity to do so with one of the women, 15 years later. I apologized and she was extraordinarily gracious. 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.”

Collins will be sitting down to discuss this admission with Katie Couric, in an interview that will stream on Yahoo and appear on 20/20. His full statement can be read via People‘s subscription service. You know, in case you want to hear more of this.

This all gives me a serious case of the yucks. Do I believe in redemption and forgiveness? Of course. But Collins is a predator, and I have a hard time believing he truly feels remorse for his actions. And for him to have a platform to clear his name while his victims – GIRLS – have suffered and carried this with them for years just sickens me. If he truly wanted to apologize to them and not “make things worse,” he would stop speaking publicly about the horrible thing he did to them. For him it was something that happened “20, 32, and 40 years ago.” But time doesn’t heal all wounds, especially those inflicted by a child molester.

(Photo: GettyImages)