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Nicole Eggert on Scott Baio: He abused me starting when I was 14

Eggert said she was a minor when she first had sex with "Charles in Charge" co-star Scott Baio and that she "wasn't ready to tell my story" until now.
/ Source: TODAY

Nicole Eggert told Megyn Kelly TODAY that Scott Baio sexually abused her about "once a week" from when she was 14 to 16 while the two starred on the TV sitcom "Charles in Charge" together.

Eggert's appearance Tuesday was the first time she has detailed her accusations against the '80s teen idol, who, she claimed, told her to keep quiet about their encounters.

"The issue with him is, he was our boss ... and 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.' And it's scary. It's intimidating, especially when you are that young," she said.

Eggert, 46, first made the allegations on Twitter over the weekend. When they were filming the show, which ran on CBS for five seasons from 1984 to 1990, Eggert was a teenager and Baio, now 57, was in his mid-20s.

She said the two had sex for the first time when she was 17, when she was a minor. Years of reflection and becoming a mother herself helped her to realize their relationship was inappropriate, she said.

"What my truth is, is that I wasn't ready to tell my story,'' Eggert told Kelly. "For me it was always protecting the show and protecting that whole legacy that nothing happened there. That was my delusion, and that was my cover-up, always. I always lied about it."

Baio fired back at her claims in a Facebook Live video he posted on Saturday, calling Eggert's claims "100 percent lies."

"My reputation is being damaged, my family is being put through this, and I'm done,'' he said.

Baio also produced multiple documents he posted on Facebook that he said support his innocence.

"If you have a claim, go to the police,'' he said.

Speaking with Kelly, Eggert said shame played a big part in the way she viewed her relationship with Baio for several years, including comments in a 2012 interview that the two were good friends and that their past was "way more innocent than it was made out to be."

"If I could go back back to a younger Nicole, I would tell her she doesn't have to be ashamed that she's a victim,'' Eggert said. "Shame can play such a weird part and such a strong voice ... you lie. I didn't want anybody to look at me and think I was weak."

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