In a brand new documentary, solid members from “7th Heaven” react to the Stephen Collins scandal on-screen.
Referred to as “Hollywood Demons,” the brand new ID docuseries covers numerous showbiz scandals, and the premiere episode airing Monday, March 24 (9 p.m.) is known as “Stephen Collins, America’s Dad,” masking how Collins performed the borderline saintly father determine on the hit household present “7th Heaven” earlier than he was disgraced by an underage sexual misconduct scandal.
Former “7th Heaven” solid members Jeremy London and Kyle Searles react to listening to the recording of Collins speaking about exposing himself to minors — which TMZ first printed in 2014 — and his subsequent “20/20” interview with Katie Couric about it that very same month.
Not one of the fundamental solid members who performed his youngsters seem within the doc. Textual content on-screen explains that producers reached out to over 100 of Collins’ former contacts.
However, in a 2024 “7th Heaven” rewatch podcast, David Gallagher, who performed Collins’ on-screen son, stated, “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.”
Beverley Mitchell added that the solid members don’t “excuse or condone his behavior.”
In the course of the “20/20” interview, when Collins admitted that his first sufferer was 10, Searles stated on-screen that he wasn’t conscious of that.
“I’m kind of like shaking right now,” he stated in “Hollywood Demons,” watching the footage.
Searles, 39, who performed household pal Mac on “7th Heaven,” defined that it was his first time watching the “20/20” interview as a result of when the scandal first broke, “it was me just trying to ‘stick your head in the sand’ kind of thing.”
Collins, 77, starred on the WB present “7th Heaven” as Eric Camden, benevolent minister and father of seven youngsters. Jessica Biel, Barry Watson, Mitchell, Mackenzie Rosman and David Gallagher have been among the many actors enjoying his youngsters.
As “Hollywood Demons” factors out, “7th Heaven” was the longest-running “family show” in historical past, airing for 11 seasons from 1996 to 2007.
Since he performed a form patriarch on the present, Collins’ public persona was a healthful picture of “America’s Dad.”
However that collapsed in 2014, when TMZ leaked audio from a remedy session Collins had together with his then-wife, Faye Grant (who he was married to from 1985 to 2015).
Within the recordings, Collins may be heard admitting to sexual misconduct with younger women.
Though his profession imploded, he confronted no legal or civil prosecution for his alleged intercourse crimes towards minors.
Jeremy London, 52, entered the present in Season 7, as a younger fellow minister.
“Stephen Collins was most certainly America’s dad, I wanted him to be my dad,” he stated on-screen.
After the bombshell 2014 reveal about Collins’ misconduct, London stated, “I was hearing some buzz but [thinking], ‘there’s not a chance in hell my Steve Collins is being accused of these things. You don’t accuse saints of things.’”
After listening to Collins admitting to exposing himself to minors on tape, London visibly received emotional on-screen and stated, “It’s tough, it’s hard. I’m a dad first and foremost, above everything else. So, my first thought goes to the children. Stephen Collins would be a dead man if that was my child.”
London added that in his time on set, “What I noticed about Stephen Collins working with young girls and extras is that I never noticed a damn thing about Stephen Collins working with young girls and extras. He never crossed any lines of any kind.”
In the course of the Couric interview, Collins claimed he wasn’t interested in younger women. In line with the doc, Collins is presently relationship a “7th Heaven” fan, Jenny Nagle, 37, who’s 40 years his junior.
“This is the first time that I’ve ever thought that he’s full of sh-t. I’m not satisfied with this, I have, like, a knot in my stomach [watching Collins say he’s not attracted to underage girls]. My whole world changed when I had kids, my whole worldview,” Searles stated.
He added, “I think that goes without being said, but you know what I mean. I just think that I put him up on a professional pedestal a bit too much.”
“Hollywood Demons” premieres with the Collins episode Monday, March 24 at 9 p.m. on ID.
