He played the dad on 7th Heaven, a really boring late 90s "sitcom" for Christian teens and adults who hate themselves.

My classmates and myself were forced by our Family Dynamics teacher in high school to watch this show.

I had an irrational hatred of this man. I hated his smug, self righteous fucking face for the holier than thou cunt character he played. Think 'Ward Cleaver' but with a hard-line Christian fundamentalist spin. He's always right. His religious views are always right. And his kids are fuck-ups for not obeying his perfection completely and without question.

Now there's a rational reason to hate him personally, and I feel vindicated. Though now I feel bad for the kids. Bleh, victory is tasting like ashes.

It's almost impossible for me not to hear sanctimony in his voice, even in this recording.

^ *****

I'm not even going to try, I heard a little bit of it the other day and that was enough.

Yeah I miss the celebrity meltdowns that were fun to listen to, like Mel Gibson's.

Good. I hope she took him to the cleaners. This guy is how I picture half of men whining about 'unfair divorce settlements.'

The other half?

Umm.. I hate to say it, but isn't that highly illegal? Like, let's say I'm having a really bad day, see a shrink and mention how I'd like to go shoot my boss and the next day the boss is found dead with no suspects. If my spouse is in the room and records it or the therapist, etc. does and releases the tapes to the cops, isn't that still violation of hippa laws no matter what you allegedly do?

Also, during, people do say fucked up things to get a rise out of the other person. Or at least my ex and I did, lying about fucking each others' friends, things we both knew weren't true just to piss the other person off. It got to the point where she created a fake facebook profile for a guy she'd never met and sent him flirty messages just to piss me off. So I one-upped her and made a profile for a Fleshlight, which I think is still around. It was childish (no pun intended) but divorce does make you say and do some stupid shit. I take all of this back if any of the victims have stepped forward or there's any evidence (trying to find any info is about as much fun as reading the tabloids.) I wikipediaed him, and I don't know if I'm just in denial that an Episcopalian, Shakespearean, well-educated person and actor would be capable of such a thing. Priests make more sense since they don't get a hall pass much of the time.

HIPAA confidentiality is between you and the therapist, not between you and your wife, and at any rate it doesn't matter. California has very strong pro-police-state laws that would probably make such confessions non-confidential (because the best way to treat child molesters is to make sure they have no incentive to seek help!), and even if it didn't, so many people hate Mr Collins right now that there's no chance of him surviving this.

Also, this is a confession after the fact, not an incriminating tape that establishes motive. He doesn't say he'd *like* to molest a child, he says he *already has*.

Oh never mind my above comment: at least it's legal in California to tape therapy sessions if there's suspicion of "violent activity," which doesn't just apply to things like murder, but also suspicion of activity with anyone under 14.

(whoops I think we replied at the same time.) Also, I guess he confessed this to his wife back in 2012, hence the tape recorder this time around. God what a creep!

IZ, I doubt even in your most bitter, spiteful moments would you have claimed to have fondled children to piss your ex off.

I know if the therapist herself had recorded the session, that would be against HIPA laws, but if the wife recorded it, shes not a healthcare provider and is not bound by HIPA.

Yeah, we're pretty sure IZ isn't Woody Allen.

Hey-O!

California has a two-party consent law for recording conversations, so if he was unaware I'm pretty sure that makes this illegal, yes.

Haha no I wouldn't, but divorce, especially a prolonged one when you're older, can potentially fuck your head up. I used to have a next door neighbor whose rich husband left her for someone else in her mid-50s and she'd come over because I could calm her down with a beer, and at first I thought what she was saying was true: that her former residences' upstairs neighbors were drilling holes in the ceiling to watch her sleep, that there was a man who wanted to murder her (who happened to be President Obama living in the apartment complex's dumpster..) if I didn't know everyone in that apartment complex I couldn't have said that I wouldn't have alerted the authorities. In her case, it made her somewhat schizophrenic as she told me all the same stuff about two of my really good friends. Conceivably, working around kids could warp your mind like that. I'd need to find it but I think Bob Saget made some really off-color joke about working with the Olson Twins on Full House, or maybe it was some other show.. Regardless, this guy's a creep for even saying it, but the "evidence" through two adult-oriented novels is like finding out that the Dad from Full House is one of the most vulgar comedians on the planet.

The more I read about this the more I'm convinced that he wasn't in the heat of some moment, and yeah. If you want to simply piss off your wife with a lie, say that you were dating one of the Kardashians or something.

I believe there are loopholes in that law, mostly for the benefit of cops and the Stasi. Specifically, California Penal Code § 633.5, which allows you to ignore the two-party consent law *if* you are collecting evidence to use against a violent offender.

I just wanted to bait Nominal the MRA and it worked

Yeah just look at my extremist views as I totally go off on a crazy rant above. What?

My god the whole Anita thing really broke your brain didn't it. I mean you were always one of the most ill tempered and spiteful people here, but it's sunk to a whole new level now.

Or the BBC!