Stephen Collins has spoken out for the first time since TMZ released an audio recording of the "7th Heaven" star confessing to acts of inappropriate sexual conduct with three underage girls.
Collins' statement to People comes two months after TMZ obtained the secret recording made by his then-wife Faye Grant during a private marriage counseling session in 2012. On the tape, the 67-year-old actor confessed to molesting and/or exposing himself to several underage girls years ago between the years of 1973 to 1994.
"Forty years ago, I did something terribly wrong that I deeply regret. I have been working to atone for it ever since," Collins wrote. He claims Grant recorded the session without his or the therapist's knowledge or consent.
"On the recording, I described events that took place 20, 32, and 40 years ago," he said. "The publication of the recording has resulted in assumptions and innuendos about what I did that go far beyond what actually occurred. As difficult as this is, I want people to know the truth."
Collins says he has "not had an impulse to act out in any such way" over the last 20 years. The last assault he described would have taken place two years prior to his show "7th Heaven" premiering in 1996.
Prior to the tape's release, Collins had already made a direct apology to one of his victims years ago.
"I did have an opportunity to do so with one of the women, 15 years later. I apologized and she was extraordinarily gracious," he said.
Collins has hesitated to reach out to his other two victims.
"But after I learned in my course of my treatment that my being direct about such matters could actually make things worse for them by opening old wounds, I have not approached the other two women, one of whom is now in her 50s and the other in her 30s," he said.
Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric will sit down with Collins for an in-depth interview that will stream on Yahoo! and air Friday on "20/20" on ABC. His full statement will appear in the new issue of People this week.
