The Behind-The-Scenes Controversy Jessica Biel Came Under Fire For During 7th Heaven

In 2000, Jessica Biel posed for a salacious photoshoot as part of the cover story in Gear, a now-defunct men's magazine. The photos included a snap of Biel posing topless while covering herself up with her arms, per Us Weekly. Those pictures were taken when she was only 17 years old, but were published after she turned 18. During the Gear interview, the publication asked the "7th Heaven" star if the spicy pics could lead to her being fired from the show. "I hope so," Biel replied.

There was immediate backlash once the head-turning pictorial of the teenage star of a faith-based show was published. "The thing comes out and literally I had to go back to work that next morning," Biel recalled on the "Awards Chatter" podcast in 2018 (via E! News). Her "7th Heaven" co-star, Stephen Collins, who played Biel's on-screen father, was bothered by the sexual nature of the pictures. "She's 17, a minor ... And as such, Jessica's photo spread was child pornography," he told the Daily News in 2000. Collins added that the pictorial sent a bad "message" to his own child. The judgmental comments from Biel's co-star turned out to be hypocritical, however. In 2014, Collins was involved in an actual scandal when he admitted to engaging in "inappropriate sexual conduct with three female minors" some 20 years earlier, per People. 

Despite the salacious pictorial, and the pull quote from Gear's interview, Biel was not trying to get fired from "7th Heaven" and later left the show of her own accord.

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