Stephen Collins Suicide Hoax: Police Invade '7th Heaven' Star's Home Following False Suicide Report
Just hours after Stephen Collins was reportedly heard confessing to child molestation in an audio recording obtained by TMZ, the "7th Heaven" actor was later suspected to have committed suicide.
Us Weekly reports that on Tuesday, LAPD swarmed Collins' home after hearing what they believed to be gunshots coming from the inside of his house.
Collins' neighbor and former "Baywatch" star, Donna D'Errico, quickly added fuel to the suicide speculations after she posted a tweet confirming Collins' suicide. D'Errico's tweet has since been deleted.
Despite D'Errico's tweet and the alleged gunshot sounds, a report from CNN now confirms that Collins is still alive.
D'Errico later issued an apology via Twitter about her false Collins suicide tweet, CNN reports.
Read D'Errico's apology below.
All I know is what all my neighbors told me. Hoping it's a false alarm. It's a zoo out here. I'm going to bed.
— Donna D'Errico (@DonnaDErrico) October 8, 2014
I just tweeted out what I was being told by my neighbor who were on scene. I apologize for tweeting what I'd heard before confirming it. — Donna D'Errico (@DonnaDErrico) October 8, 2014
Collins' false suicide report comes right after the news of his child molestation surfaced on TMZ.
On Tuesday, the gossip site released an audio recording of Collins admitting to molesting three girls under the age of 14.
In the disturbing audio recording, we hear Collins confess to molesting an 11-year-old New York relative of his first wife, Marjorie Weinman.
"There was one moment of touching where her hand, I put her hand on my penis," Collins says in the recording. When asked if it aroused him, he replies, "No, I mean, no. Partial, maybe I think."
Later in the recording, Collins confesses to molesting an LA girl -- who he later apologized to -- that lived in his neighborhood and another New York girl who was between the age of 12 and 13 at the time.
Collins' estranged wife Faye Grant secretly recorded Collins' confession as evidence for their pending divorce, TMZ reports.
However, Faye recently came out to dispel rumors that she had any affiliation to the TMZ leaked footage, claims E! News.
"I woke up today to learn that an extremely private recording I handed over to authorities in 2012 per their request in connection with a criminal investigation was recently disseminated to the press," Grant said. "I had no involvement whatsoever with the release of the tape to the media."
Since the release of the audio confession on TMZ, Collins has been fired from his upcoming film, "Ted 2," and also resigned from his position on the Screen Actors Guild national board, CNN reports.
UPTV also announced its decision to stop showing re-runs of "7th Heaven" on its network.
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