7th Heaven was one of the most successful family dramas in TV history and one of the
earliest and biggest hits for both the WB and the CW.
The show consistently delivered solid low-stakes drama revolving around the kind and compassionate
Reverend Eric Camden, his wonderful wife Annie, and their adorable brood.
It's about as wholesome and squeaky-clean as TV gets, but how wholesome and squeaky-clean
were the lives of 7th Heaven's cast off-screen?
Here are some out-of-character incidents cast members either tried to hide or later regretted.
Biel's regrettable photos
In the March 2000 issue of the now-defunct Maxim clone Gear, actress Jessica Biel did
what so many other starlets of the era did: She posed for photos in very little clothing.
She said at the time she "hoped" the photos would get her fired from the show, but producers
held her to her contract.
Biel later told Entertainment Weekly that she regretted the whole affair, explaining
it was a moment of wild rebellion that stemmed from the show's producers not allowing her
to dye and cut her hair.
She also said that the pictures turned out racier than she anticipated, and she was,
quote,
"...shocked, and my family was heartbroken about the pictures that ran."
London's bizarre ordeal
Jeremy London was part of the 7th Heaven cast in its seventh and eighth seasons, playing
Chandler Hampton, Reverend Camden's associate minister.
Off-screen, London has since had some regrettable run-ins with the law and trouble with substance
abuse.
The strangest was an incident in 2010, when London was changing a tire in Palm Springs
and the unthinkable happened …
"The actor says he was kidnapped, forced to take drugs, and drive around The Valley."
London's family publicly questioned the actor's story, citing his need for "psychological
help and drug treatment as soon as possible."
But when police investigated the kidnapping, they eventually located his car and arrested
one of the very real kidnappers, Brandon Adams.
Adams later admitted that another one of the kidnappers did, indeed, pull a gun on London
and force him to participate.
Regardless, a few months later, a sober London, who had a history of abusing painkillers,
agreed to appear on VH1's Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew Pinsky, who diagnosed London
with "full-blown post-traumatic stress disorder."
Rosman's leaked photos
Mackenzie Rosman was 7 years old when she started playing youngest daughter Ruthie Camden
on 7th Heaven.
She grew up on TV, logging 11 years on the show by the time it wrapped in 2007.
Rosman made headlines the next year when some personal photos of the then-18-year-old posing
in her underwear and kissing girls were leaked online.
She may have regretted taking the photos at the time, but five years later, she quote,
"caved" and decided to willingly pose in her underwear for a men's magazine, much like
her former co-star Jessica Biel.
So in 2013, Rosman appeared in her skivvies once again, this time on her own terms, posing
for a risqué spread in Maxim.
Collins' abuse
In 2014, TMZ posted an audio recording of actor actor Stephen Collins in a therapy session—secretly
but legally recorded by his suspicious ex-wife Faye Grant—admitting to several sexual encounters
with as many as three underage girls over the course of three decades.
The man who played TV's most famous fictional minister released a statement confirming the
veracity of the tape, and later apologized for his actions …
"I'm a human being.
I have faults, and I've done things that I deeply regret.
But I also know that I have a really good heart."
In an ironic twist, Jessica Biel's TV dad compared those 2000 Gear photos of her at
the time to "inappropriate videos," adding that, quote, "as a parent of a young daughter, this
is very disturbing to me."
Multiple criminal investigations ensued, but Collins was never prosecuted.
He still became persona non grata in Hollywood: The week the revelations broke, his already-filmed
scenes for Ted 2 were cut from the movie, and he has had zero acting credits as of the
making of this video.
"It's just not going to happen again, and it hasn't, and I feel very confident that
it won't."
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