Scott Baio has once again denied Charles in Charge costar Nicole Eggert’s sexual abuse allegations against him, saying that he hopes she’s “miserable.”
“I think it was [about] money. That’s what I think it was,” Baio, 65, told the “Arroyo Grande” podcast in an episode posted on Wednesday, April 24. “I have it on good authority it was money, and after I spoke at the [Republican National Convention in 2016], some people thought I was going to run for office and didn’t want me to. It was primarily, I think, a money play, which we debunked [with] video, audio, print, where this person contradicted everything that she said about me.”
He added, “But nobody cares about that. They care about the salacious accusation.”
Elsewhere in the discussion, Baio said he took “two” lie detector tests about the allegations to “clear [his] name.” Baio alleged that “someone at the table when this conspiracy was being hatched” told him that people wanted to stop him from entering politics.
“You take slings and arrows and you’ve got to deal with them. It’s unfortunate but somebody says something and all of a sudden it’s true. It’s insane,” he complained. “This person, I don’t hope she’s happy. I don’t. I hope she’s miserable because what she did to me and my family was unconscionable.”
The Happy Days actor concluded, “All of it was debunked and it’s not who I am. It’s just unfortunate.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Eggert’s spokesperson for comment.
In January 2018, Eggert accused Baio of sexually abusing her when she was 14. She spoke in depth about her accusations on NBC’s Today at the time, saying he “immediately befriended” her when they both started working together on Charles in Charge. (Eggert said she was 14 at the time, while Baio was 26. They played Jamie Powell and her housekeeper, Charles, respectively)
“Then he started expressing his love for me and talking about marriage in the future,” Eggert, 54, said in January 2018. “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.”
Eggert alleged that the sexual abuse happened “more than 10 times” throughout the time they worked together. (Charles in Charge aired from 1984 to 1990.)
“I was very young and it was shocking. I had never experienced anything like that before, either,” the Baywatch star told Today at the time. “So he was playing on not only my emotions but my hormones. The issue with him is that he was our boss. He also was telling me, ‘You can’t tell anybody, this is illegal, I’ll go to jail. The show will be over. Everybody will be sued. You’ll be out of a job. You’ll ruin everybody’s life.’ It’s scary. That’s intimidating, especially when you’re that young.”
Eggert filed a police report but no charges were ever filed. Baio told Good Morning America in January 2018 that no abuse or misconduct of any kind occurred.
“The story seems to change quite a bit and I can’t keep up with it quite honestly,” Baio said. “I don’t know if you’ve ever been on a sitcom set but on any given day, on every day, and especially on Charles in Charge — which was a picnic every day. It was one of my favorite jobs I’ve ever done. There are teachers, parents, family, crew, producers, my dad. So how any of this could have happened is absolutely impossible and I don’t know how anybody can believe what she’s saying when her first allegation of having sex when [she] was 17 proved to be 100 percent false. And her story keeps changing. She makes up new things.”
Eggert was not the only Charles in Charge cast member to accuse Baio of misconduct. At a February 2018 press conference, Alexander Polinsky — who played Adam Powell on the sitcom — said that Baio bullied him with homophobic comments and once pulled his pants down on set. (Polinsky, 51, also accused Baio of once throwing a cup of hot tea in his face and saying he would “never be loved by a woman” because he was “so effeminate.”)
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“I dreaded the teasing and daily attacks on my personality,” he said in a press conference alongside Eggert and their attorney, Lisa Bloom, adding that he went through “mental torture” on the Charles in Charge set.
Baio denied “each and every one” of Polinsky’s misconduct allegations.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
