The '7th Heaven' actor says an older woman repeatedly exposed herself to him when he was young and the experience impacted his perception of appropriate behavior.
- Dec 21, 2014
AceShowbiz - Stephen Collins reveals a childhood trauma in a new clip from his interview with Katie Couric. The "7th Heaven" star opens up, "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."
The actor insists he wasn't sharing the story as a way to "excuse" his own sexual misconduct with three young girls which he admitted he did years ago. However, he believes his experience as a boy distorted his perception of appropriate behavior.
"That distorted my perception in such a way that some part of me felt - I never felt like I was molested. That word never crossed my mind as a 10 to 15-year-old boy," he explains. "It was a very intense experience. I think somewhere in my brain I got the equation that, 'Well, this isn't so terrible. This person who I trust is doing it'."
"I'm very sorry that anything that I did disappoints you that way," Collins continues during the interview. When asked if he's a pedophile, he vehemently denies, "I do not fit either the clinical or dictionary definition of it."
