Actress Nicole Eggert appeared on 'Megyn Kelly Today' on Tuesday, where she alleged that her 'Charles in Charge' co-star, Scott Baio, sexually abused her starting when she was 14 years old.
Actress Nicole Eggert appeared on Megyn Kelly Today on Tuesday, where she alleged that her Charles in Charge co-star, Scott Baio, sexually abused her starting when she was 14 years old.
Eggert made headlines over the weekend, when she tweeted, “Ask [Scott Baio] what happened in his garage at his house when I was a minor." Baio responded on Facebook, saying she is "provably wrong" and "deliberately lying." While he denied having a sexual relationship when she was underage, he did say that the two had consensual sex “well after she turned 18.”
During her interview with Kelly, Eggert claims that Baio expressed interest in her immediately when she began filming Charles in Charge in September 1986. Baio would have been 25 at the time.
"He immediately took to me and befriended me and earned my trust, and then he started expressing his love for me and talking about marriage in the future," she alleges. "And then I was still 14, before my 15th birthday, and we were at his house, in his car, in his garage, and he reached over and he penetrated me with his finger, and that's when the sexual touching and abuse started."
"I was very young and it was shocking a little, and I never experienced anything like that before, either, so, he was playing on not only my emotions but my hormones, all of those things," she continues. "The issue with him is that he was our boss. He also was telling me, you know, 'You can't tell anybody, this is illegal, I'll go to jail, the show will be over, everyone will be sued, you'll be out of a job, you'll ruin everybody's life,' and it's scary. It's intimidating, especially when you're that young."
Eggert claims her alleged sexual encounters with Baio when she was still a minor "happened quite often, through the age of 16.”
“More than 10 times, more like probably once a week," she says. "And then on set, there was just a lot of groping, a lot of fondling, a lot of pulling me on his lap, trying to sneak kisses in the back, which other cast members saw.”
When asked about her statements in past interviews -- she has previously said that she and Baio had sexual intercourse only after shooting was over, and that she was 17 at the time -- Eggert says she lied at the time because she was ashamed. Baio has also previously denied Eggert's claim they had intercourse when she was 17, explaining that by her own admission, they had intercourse after the show was over -- the show ended in 1990, when Eggert was 18.
"My truth is that I wasn't ready to tell my story," Eggert now says. "For me, it was always protecting the show, protecting that whole legacy that nothing happened there. That was my delusion, that was my cover up, always. I did it my whole life. I didn't want anybody to know. ... Shame plays such a weird part, and such a strong voice, and you lie."
In Baio's response to Eggert's accusations on Sunday, the actor said his attorneys have sent her and another Charles in Charge star, Alexander Polinsky -- who has also claimed abuse on set, though not sexual, in a now deleted tweet -- a letter advising that they take their allegations to law enforcement for a full investigation. On Tuesday, Eggert told Kelly she was still weighing her options.
"Nicole Eggert has been claiming I had sex with her before she was 18 at least since 2013," Baio wrote on Facebook. "She is provably wrong, and because we have been telling her that since last year without results, our only conclusion is that she is deliberately lying."
“Only after Nicole Eggert was proven to be dishonest in her ‘sex at 17’ allegations did she create a new story about sexual contact at an even younger age," the statement continues. "For the record, they are false too."
On Tuesday's Megyn Kelly Today, Kelly also interviewed filmmaker Jennifer Jarosik, who alleges music mogul Russell Simmons sexually assaulted her twice -- once in 2011 in his office in New York, and another time at his home in Los Angeles in 2016. She has filed a civil lawsuit against Simmons for $5 million for the alleged incident in Los Angeles.
In a statement, Simmons denied Jarosik's allegations.
"This allegation is absolutely untrue," the statement reads. "I look forward to having my day in court -- where, unlike the court of public opinion, I will have the ability to make use of fair processes that ensure that justice will be done and that the full truth will be known. I did not do what this lawsuit accuses me of doing. ... What I will not do is accept responsibility for what I have not done."
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