Scott Baio came forward on Wednesday’s Good Morning America to refute Nicole Eggert’s molestation claims in an interview with host Amy Robach.
Eggert, Baio’s former Charles in Charge costar, had alleged years of “sexual touching and abuse” before they had sex when she was a minor at 17. Asked what happened between them when Eggert was 14, 15, and 16, Baio said, “Absolutely nothing.”
“I don’t know if you’ve ever been on a sitcom set. On any given day, on every day — and especially Charles in Charge, which was like a picnic every day, it’s one of my favorite jobs I’ve ever done — there’s teachers, parents, family, crew, producers, my dad,” Baio said. “So how any of this could’ve 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 we were 17 had been proved to be 100 percent false and her story keeps changing.”
After tweeting cryptic accusations on social media, Eggert appeared on Megyn Kelly TODAY and stated Baio penetrated her with his fingers in a car in his garage when she was 14 years old. “I have no idea what that means,” Baio told Robach. “So you can’t just keep making up different things.”
Eggert further claimed the “abuse” and “molestation” started after that alleged incident, including “a lot of groping, a lot of fondling, a lot of pulling me on his lap, trying to sneak kisses in the back” on the set of Charles in Charge.
“I had never experienced anything like that before either,” she had told Kelly. “So he was playing on not only my emotions, but my hormones and all of those things. And the issue with him is that he was our boss and he was also telling me, ‘You can’t tell anybody,’ ‘This is illegal,’ ‘I’ll go to jail,’ ‘The show will be over,’ ‘Everyone will be sued,’ ‘You will be out of a job,’ and ‘You will ruin everybody’s life.’ And it’s scary. That’s intimidating, especially when you’re that young.”
Baio reiterated how “impossible” it would have been for this kind of behavior to happen on set with so many crew members around. “Unless I was in a scene alone with her and directors and producers and crew guys are watching,” he added.
For “proof” that Eggert lied about when they had sex, the actor pointed to past remarkes she made in interviews. According to Wetpaint, which printed a story about a now-offline interview Eggert did for Nik Richie Radio in 2013, the actress said she had sex with Baio after Charles in Charge went off the air, which would have made her an adult at the time.
Baio also pointed to statements Eggert made in the same interview about wanting to have sex with him so she wouldn’t be a virgin with her new boyfriend. Eggert explained to Kelly on NBC on Tuesday that she lied in the past about the alleged abuse because she “wasn’t ready” to reveal her story and was focused on protecting the show’s legacy. “That was my delusion and that was my cover-up always,” she had said. “And that’s not the first time I covered it up. I always lied about it because I didn’t want anybody to know.”
Richie released a statement to Megyn Kelly TODAY to support Eggert. “I remember the day Nicole Eggert did the radio interview with me about Scott Baio,” it read. “Nicole was distraught after the interview, and off air she was an emotional wreck. She told me it was much worse than she described on air. She said, ‘He molested me as a child, and I didn’t know any better.’”
Meanwhile, Alex Polinsky, another former cast member on Charles in Charge, told NBC he witnessed “inappropriate cuddling” between Eggert and Baio on set.
“I don’t know what they’re saying,” Baio told Robach of these statements. He added, “The story seems to change quite a bit and I can’t keep up with it, quite honestly.”
Baio, who posted a Facebook Live video refuting Eggert’s initial tweets, said he wanted to appear on Good Morning America to also protect his family.
“I have a 10-year-old daughter and my 10-year-old daughter doesn’t need to be hearing about this from friends at school, these false allegations,” he said. “Her job is not to defend me. My job is to defend my daughter. Her job is to be 10 years old, and that’s why this has got to stop.”
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