Stephen Collins says he’s ‘absolutely not’ attracted to children

Stephen Collins says he’s not attracted to children but rather had “a distortion” in his thinking and needed attention when he engaged in sexual misconduct with three girls decades ago.

In a video interview with Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric posted Friday, the actor said he was “absolutely not” and never was physically or sexually attracted to children. He said, “I am just not.”

“I think I am someone who caved in several times to exhibitionist urges. Someone who had real big boundary issues as a young man and beyond that to an extent,” he said.

He told Couric he spoke to a therapist, who explained to him that if he were attracted to children he would have acted out more frequently.

People magazine published a statement Wednesday from the “7th Heaven” star in which he admitted to incidents of sexual misconduct in 1973, 1982 and 1994, calling his actions “inexcusable.”

The 67-year-old said he was “deeply remorseful about what happened” and had not “had an impulse to act out in any such way” since the third incident.

“With all my heart, I want them to know how sorry I am and that I haven’t engaged in any such behavior for over 20 years,” he said in the statement. “I deeply regret the mistakes I’ve made and any pain I caused these three women.”

In 2012, detectives in New York and Los Angeles began investigating Collins following allegations that he had sexually abused underage girls.

The investigations were made public earlier this year, after an audio recording surfaced in which a man purported to be Collins confessed to sexually abusing three girls.

New York police said the allegations had passed the statute of limitations. The LAPD confirmed in October it was reviewing its 2012 case following publicity about the audio recording, but since had handed that investigation over to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The interview is airing on ABC’s “20/20” on Friday.

Staff writer Kate Mather contributed to this report.

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