Stephen Collins Talks Past Sexual Misconduct, "Unthinkably Wrong" Act With Girl, 10, and Encounter With Older Woman

The 67-year-old actor, who played Reverend Eric Camden on 7th Heaven, made his comments to Yahoo! Global News Anchor Katie Couric for ABC's 20/20

By Corinne Heller Dec 20, 2014 10:27 PMTags

Stephen Collins, a former 7th Heaven star who recently expressed remorse over past inappropriate sexual conduct with three underage girls, got candid with Katie Couric while discussing his past behavior, revealing an "unthinkably wrong" act with a 10-year-old.

The 67-year-old actor, who played family man Reverend Eric Camden on the popular family series, also revealed that when he was a minor, an "older woman" "repeatedly exposed herself" to him.

Collins has never been charged over the encounters with the girls and has said he has undergone therapy. He spoke to Couric, a Yahoo! Global News Anchor, in an interview that aired on ABC's 20/20 program on Friday, following reports about the incidents and two child molestation investigations, and amid a more than two-year-long divorce battle with his wife, Faye Grant.

Collins has said he is not a pedophile, is not sexually attracted to children and no longer has "exhibitionist urges." He told Couric that the first victim was 10 years old. He was 25 at the time.

"Well, in 1973, there were two occasions when I exposed myself to this young woman and several months later, she came to visit...and she and I were watching TV alone together and I took her hand and moved it in such a way that she was touching me inappropriately," he said. "I knew that something unthinkably wrong had just happened that I couldn't take back."

"There were two times in 1982, and 20 years ago, in 1994, when I exposed myself to two different teenage girls," he added. "There was no physical contact of any kind with either of them."

They were 13 and 14 years old, he said.

During the interview, Couric asked Collins why he thinks he repeatedly engaged in the inappropriate behavior.

"The thing that makes the most sense to me, and this is not an excuse—'cause none of this is an excuse—but I did have someone in my life, when I was between the ages of 10 and 15, an older woman, who repeatedly exposed herself to me," he said. "And I think that that distorted my perception in such a way that some part of me thought...'cause I never thought that I was molested, it never occurred to me, that word never crossed my mind as a 10 to 15-year-old boy."

"It was a very intense experience," he added. "But I think somewhere in my brain, I got the equation of, 'Well, this isn't so terrible. I mean, this person who I trust is doing it.'"

When asked to clarify what he meant by the woman "exposing" herself, Collins told Couric, "Being in various states of undress or complete undress." He said the woman exposed herself to him "quite a few times."

"That may elicit some eye rolls by people listening to this. 'Oh, OK, this is why he did that,'" Couric said.

"It's not why I did it," he replied. "I'm not, I'm not blaming her. I'm just saying I think that's an aspect that went to my own distorted thinking as a young man."

Collins had broken his silence about the incidents earlier this week and has said he deeply regrets the incidents and has been "working to atone for it ever since."

Recently, audio from a marriage counseling session, in which he heard admitting to the incidents, was leaked online. Collins blames his estranged wife, who has denied being the source of the leak.

"Stephen's statements about me are false and appear to be an attempt by him to deflect from his conduct," she said in a statement to Yahoo! News that was read on 20/20. "I sincerely hope Stephen gets the help he needs."

Collins told Couric added that he continues to undergo therapy.

"I always will be, out of respect for those woman," he said. "And it's just not gonna happen again and it hasn't and I feel very confident that it won't."

Couric asked Collins why he decided to grant her the interview.

"The truth, as painful as it is, is less painful than the stuff that was flying around the Internet and some of the rumors," he replied.

"I think of those women," he said during the sit-down, pausing for several seconds, with his voice wavering. "And I would say, with all my heart, 'I am sorry for what I put you though and I want you to know that nothing like that will ever happen again.'"