One of the episodes in Investigation Discovery’s Hollywood Demons docuseries will revisit 7th Heaven actor Stephen Collins’ disturbing sex scandal.
In a clip of the series premiere shared with In Touch on Sunday, March 23, Stephen’s alleged grooming of young girls was explored.
“Just imagine an adult male hanging out with a 12- or 13-year-old female,” said addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky. “Just that. Just hanging out. And then making comments about her feet. And I suspect he likes his power over her. This is called grooming.”
“Grooming is when a grown-up is establishing a relationship with a child in an effort to sexually abuse them,” a second interviewee said. “I think Stephen Collins was making [April Price] feel special from other kids.”
April, 54, was believed to be one of three victims of Collins’ alleged inappropriate sexual behavior. She was 13 when her alleged interactions with the actor occurred.
Culture writer Scaachi Koul added, “Stephen gives her an autograph first, so he gives her some attention, then he exposes himself to her. Then, a third time, he comes to her again and offers her a different kind of attention. This one feels a little more sexualized, a little more loaded. He’s talking about her feet, which is a particular body part that suggests, ‘I’m paying close attention to you.’”
Koul, 34, continued, “By the point that he is fully harassing her, she’s already been in it for so long. How would she explain it to somebody if she ever did want to say to an adult that this was happening?”
Collins, 77, was famous for his role as Reverend Eric Camden and TV dad to seven kids on 7th Heaven, which ran for 11 seasons on The WB and The CW from 1996 to 2007. However, his reputation was dealt a huge blow in 2012 when leaked audio recordings detailed Collins discussing his sexual urges toward young girls with his therapist. Police opened a formal investigation into the matter after the audio was leaked to the public but could not find a “substantiated victim,” according to NBC.
Collins admitted to People in 2014 that he engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with three minor girls between 1973 and 1974.
“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,” he said at the time. “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.”
Collins added that he “apologized” to one of the women, “and she was incredibly gracious.” However, he did not identify the alleged victim.
“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,” he added.
Collins was never prosecuted due to the statute of limitations.
April, who also appears in the Hollywood Demons premiere, broke her silence on the scandal in a 2015 interview with Daily Mail.
“I’m standing up for myself,” she said, explaining that she first met Collins while visiting her aunt in Los Angeles in 2015. She claimed that he gave her his autograph one day, and then she allegedly saw him completely naked while he was walking past her aunt’s house another day. During another interaction, he allegedly exposed his penis to April.
“I was not prepared on any level to handle that at my age. I shouldn’t have had to see that, at that point in my life,” she said.
The six-part series Hollywood Demons premieres on Monday, March 24, at 9 p.m. ET on ID and streams on Max.
