Stephen Collins is the latest subject of an Investigation Discovery special — but which of his former 7th Heaven costars were willing to address his child sexual abuse?
The actor became a household name after booking the role of Reverend Eric Camden on 7th Heaven, which ran from 1996 to 2007. The ensemble cast also included Jessica Biel, Barry Watson, Beverley Mitchell, David Gallagher, Mackenzie Rosman and Catherine Hicks.
Seven years after the show ended, Collins made headlines when TMZ published an audio recording from a marriage counseling session with his then-wife, Faye Grant, where he admitted to sexually abusing three underage girls.
“I’m a flawed person,” Collins said in an interview with Katie Couric at the time. “In the church, it’s actually one of the things I love about the church … It’s really one of the main things about the Christian faith. Christ said in so many ways, ‘Bring me that … which about you is broken, bring it,’ and most people are broken in some way.”
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He continued: “Most people get to, or have to, or choose to hide it. This came out. I didn’t choose this to come out. I didn’t want to have to deal with these things publicly. … I had dealt with them very, very strongly, and committedly, in my private life, but I think I’m a human being with flaws and I’ve done everything I can to address it.”
Investigation Discovery’s six-part Hollywood Demons special, which airs on Monday, March 24, reached out to “more than 100 contacts” of Collins’ and “nearly everyone declined to participate or did not respond.” (A producer in a voiceover stated that only men agreed to speak with them about their experience with Collins.)
In the doc, the Founding President of Programming at the WB Network Garth Ancier was asked whether any allegations were brought up against Collins by his 7th Heaven costars, to which he replied, “No. There was nothing and it just didn’t happen. I would see it.”
Ancier noted that the show prioritized keeping the children on set safe.”There are lots of safety rails when you have kids on a show,” he added. “For minors there are always people on set who are teachers, I got the sense this was a really protected set.”
Collins didn’t participate in the doc. “Stephen Collins now lives with a woman who is 40 years younger than him. She was a super fan,” Dr. Drew Pinsky claimed in the special. “The age difference — given what we know about his history — certainly raises an eyebrow. Let’s hope he can commit to this woman and not perpetrate on others.”
Keep scrolling for a breakdown of which 7th Heaven stars addressed their history with Collins before Hollywood Demons premieres on Monday, March 24, on ID at 9 p.m. EST:
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Jeremy London
London, who played Chandler for 37 episodes, described Collins as “not only one of the finest actors but one of the finest human beings in Hollywood.” In addition to addressing his own legal problems, London and his fellow costar Kyle Searles watched Collins’ interview with Couric after they both admitted to not having seen it at the time.
“What I noticed about Stephen Collins working with young girls and extra is I didn’t notice a damn thing,” London told the cameras after being asked about his experience with Collins on set. “It never crossed any lines of any kind.”
Kyle Searles
For 27 episodes of 7th Heaven, Searles played the role of Mac. He admitted in the ID special that he originally admired Collins as a mentor, saying, “He showed me what I wanted to be as a professional actor and how you treat people and how you present yourself. That is why it was even more of a shock to hear what ended up happening.”
Searles noted that he potentially put Collins “on a professional pedestal a bit too much” after seeing the disgraced actor’s comments about his child abuse scandal.
“This is the first time that I’ve ever thought that he is full of s—t. No, I am not satisfied with this,” Searles explained to producers. “I have like a knot in my stomach. My whole world changed when I had kids of my own — my whole world view changed and certainly my tolerance for this.”
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Beverley Mitchell
Hollywood Demons featured some insight into Mitchell’s alleged perspective on the scandal through her “personal friend” Dr. Drew.
“She never reported any issues to me,” he shared. “He was a nice guy. He is a smart dude. He is engaging and interesting and charming. He is all of those things and he was engaged in some monstrous behavior.”
Six months before the ID special, Mitchell, Gallagher and Rosman addressed Collins’ legal drama ahead of a new episode of their “Catching Up with the Camdens” podcast.
“Before we get into this episode, we want you to know that we see all of your comments and we know how excited you all are for the rewatch, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” said Mitchell, who played Lucy Camden, said at the start of the September 2024 episode. “But before we get into that, we do think it’s important that we say something about Stephen Collins.”
Gallagher, who played Simon Camden, added: “All forms of abuse, sexual abuse of any kind, it’s inexcusable. And victims of abuse need to be shown compassion and they should be given support.”
Mitchell assured fans that Collins “will not be joining us on this podcast” before Rosman added, “As we rewatch these episodes, it would be impossible not to talk about Stephen because he was such a big part of the show and our lives. But we want to be clear, we did not have any inappropriate experiences with Stephen.”
