Celebrity News March 11, 2015
Stephen Collins’ Alleged Victim Speaks Out About Sexual Assault
April Price is the first alleged victim of Stephen Collins to speak out against the former “7th Heaven” star.
In an exclusive interview with Daily Mail, Price details the three times Collins supposedly exposed himself to her when she was just a 13-year-old girl visiting her aunt in L.A.
Price says she was excited to learn Collins was her aunt's neighbor in a private, gated apartment complex. It was 1983 and he was starring in the hit show “The Tales of the Gold Monkey.”
Over the course of her summer vacation, she spoke with Collins several times within the complex.
She described the first time he crossed the line like this: “One day I was in kitchen cooking breakfast and I look up and I see Mr. Collins walking through the courtyard, right in front of my aunt's big bay window. He was completely naked. He had no clothes on whatsoever. He had a wad of clothes in his hands.”
Price continued, “I was taken aback. That was strange. Wow. Who would do that? At the time, I didn't think it was necessarily sinister really, but I thought it was odd. It was not like he tried to cover up. He knew I was there while he was naked. He could see me there.”
When she told a neighbor about the encounter, the woman mentioned that Collins had recently been in France. Price said being from Oklahoma, she thought, “Oh, okay. It's France. It's weird, whatever… I let it go.”
A few days later, April ran into Collins in the courtyard. She was heading into her aunt's apartment to set up her Atari. The actor offered to help.
“I don't know at what point he did it, but when he turned around, his pants were completely unfastened,” she said. “His penis was hanging out and I'm just shocked. He doesn't make any mention of it. He doesn't act any differently.”
She decided to play along and act normal. “Honestly, I was 13 and hadn't even kissed a boy yet. This was not something I was even remotely prepared for in my life and I shut down. He was acting normal so I was determined to do the same. I had never seen a grown man's penis before. I never could understand the desire or the need to bring his penis out.”
He set up the Atari and went home. She never told her aunt.
Later that summer, she says Collins approached her while she was sunbathing in the courtyard. He offered to show her some memorabilia from “The Tales of the Gold Monkey.”
She said “warning bells” went off, but she followed him into his apartment anyway, she said she couldn't help but feel flattered that a TV star was talking to her and kept telling herself “he's a nice guy.”
While she was looking at the collectibles, he asked, “Do you mind if I get more comfortable?"
He went into his room and walked back out “totally naked.” Price was terrified.
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. What am I going to do? It was really sad because at 13, we're taught to be respectful. We're taught to be honest and kind. I don't want to appear rude. I don't want to say, 'Oh my god, get your clothes on.'”
She continued, “I remember I just sat there on his couch as tight as I can be. Arms together, legs together. I'm thinking to myself. Oh my gosh, oh my god. And he is nonchalantly fixing some light or fixture that is three feet away from me. It was a standing light and I think he was changing the bulb. But he puts his genitalia right at my eye level.”
She added, “So it's like you can't help but see it. I'm sure he was aware of that. I was panicked.”
Luckily her aunt walked by, and Price saw the perfect excuse to bolt.
Collins, however, showed up at her aunt's apartment moments later wearing only a button down shirt and underwear. He told her aunt that Price had been in his apartment, but “everything is fine.”
Her aunt was livid at Collins, but Price never revealed that he had been naked inside the apartment. She didn't see him again the rest of the trip.
Years later, Price moved to L.A. While working craft services on a commercial shoot, she ran into Collins. He approached her and apologized.
“He came up to the other side of the crafts service table. He was very intense. He said, 'I want you to understand what I did. I know it was extremely wrong. I really apologize for it, if I ever made you uncomfortable.'”
She continued, “I don't remember how I responded. I just was saying to myself, 'Keep professional. I want to work in this business.'”
Price, who had struggled with relationships throughout her teens, said, “That was my turning point. I thought, 'You know what? I can close the book on it. I can finally just let this go.' It wasn't for him. It was for me.”
She added, “I decided to let go of the poison and become a whole human being again. It worked because I met my husband a couple years later.”
Price went to the police in 2014, after TMZ leaked audio of Collins supposedly talking about his alleged victims. He has never been charged with a crime.
She decided to tell her side of the story to the public after Collins' interview with Katie Couric. He told Couric that he only exposed himself to Price once, and she wanted to set the record straight.