Disturbing Details About 7th Heaven's Stephen Collins

The following article includes discussion of child sexual abuse.

In a terrifying turn from the role-model reverend that he played as part of the cast of "7th Heaven," in 2014 actor Stephen Collins admitted to having illegal sexual contact with multiple minors. TMZ obtained a tape in which Collins confessed that he was a child molester to Faye Grant, his ex-wife whom he was acrimoniously divorcing at the time. According to the outlet, the confession was made in 2012 during a therapy session that Collins did not know was being recorded. In the recording, Collins admitted to molesting an 11-year-old relative of his first wife, Marjorie Weinman. The difficult listen revealed that Collins made the young girl touch his private parts and continued to expose himself to her when she was 12 and 13 years old. 

Collins horrifically added that he had done something with a girl that lived in their Los Angeles neighborhood, but said that he attempted to apologize to her for the situation. He also listed a girl in New York, with the NYPD telling TMZ that there were "at least three victims." 

In December of 2014, Collins made an official statement to People, saying, "Forty years ago, I did something terribly wrong that I deeply regret. I have been working to atone for it ever since," saying that after the time of the incidents between 1973 and 1994, "I have not had an impulse to act out in any such way."

The disturbing confession by Stephen Collins put an end to his acting career, though he attempted to rehabilitate his image. In 2014, the then-67 year old talked to now-retired TV host Katie Couric in an interview which was aired on ABC News' "20/20," with Collins saying that "I'm absolutely not attracted, physically or sexually attracted to children." Collins denied that he was a pedophile and said that even when he made the unspeakable move of placing the victim's hand on his private parts, he claimed to have known that he did something wrong. He told Couric, "I'm a human being. I have faults, and I've done things that I deeply regret." And while the sentiment may be true, it should be noted that Collins was and is not the victim.

Afterwards, Collins was fired from multiple roles, dropped by his agent, and resigned from his position on the SAG-AFTRA board. He has since largely stayed out of the public spotlight, but in 2025 Collins will be returning to television screens, though perhaps not in the way that he would like. People announced that Investigation Discovery would be launching a six-part documentary miniseries titled "Hollywood Demons," which will cover the scandal. And while Collins' downfall may be the most disturbing, he's only one facet of the tragedies that have affected the "7th Heaven" cast.