An emotional Nicole Eggert accused Scott Baio of sexually abusing her for years in an interview with Megyn Kelly on Tuesday.
The actress said it all started when she was 14 back in 1986 on the set of Charles in Charge, the television show she worked on with Baio, who was then 25.
‘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,’ said Eggert, fighting back tears.
‘And then I was still 14, before my 15th birthday, we were at his house in his car in his garage. And he reached over and he penetrated me with his finger. And that is when the sexual touching and abuse started after that.’
She went on to claim that these incidents ‘probably happened once a week’ until she was 16, along with kissing and groping that she believes the pair’s co-stars on the program saw at the time.
Baio has firmly denied Eggert’s allegations and said that the two did not engage in any sexual activity until she was of age.
Speaking out: Nicole Eggert (above) spoke with Megyn Kelly on Tuesday about the alleged sexual abuse she suffered for two years while filming Charles in Charge
Allegation: The actress claimed she was just 14 when Scott Baio, then 25, ‘penetrated me with his finger’ (Baio and Eggert above around the time of the alleged assault)
“I was very young & It was shocking. I had never experienced anything like that before either” – Nicole Eggert, who has accused former Charles in Charge co-star Scott Baio of molesting her when she was younger. #MegynTODAY pic.twitter.com/VjSSLcLJP8
— Megyn Kelly TODAY (@MegynTODAY) January 30, 2018
‘I had never experienced anything like that before either, so he was playing on not only my emotions but my hormones and all of those things,’ said Eggert, now 46.
‘And the issue with him is that he was our boss. And he was telling me, you know, ‘You can’t tell anybody, this is illegal, I’ll go to jail. The show will be over. Everybody will be sued,” you know? “You’ll be out of a job, you’ll ruin everybody’s life.’
Eggert then added: ‘It’s scary. It’s intimidating, especially when you’re that young.’
She said that the two did not have sexual intercourse until she was 17 and he was 28, and that she only told a few close friends at the time of the initial abuse.
As for the producers and other actors on set, Egghert said they had to be aware of the kissing and groping but she does not think they knew about the sexual abuse.
‘There was a bit of like — this person loves me. I trust this person. And that he cares about me and I’m safe,’ said Eggert of her feelings for Baio at the time.
‘And it wasn’t until, you know, getting a little bit older that I started to realize this not — this is not love.’
She also explained why she had kept this a secret for so long, and stressed in the past that she had never had sexual contact with Baio until she was of age.
‘But my truth is I wasn’t ready to tell my story and for me it was protecting the show and protecting that whole legacy that nothing happened there,’ Eggert told Kelly.
‘That was my delusion and that was my cover-up always. And, you know, that’s not the first time I covered it up. I always lied about it.’