Stephen Collins' lawyer accuses estranged wife of leaking tape

Stephen Collins' lawyer claims the actor's estranged wife, Faye Grant, tried to extort money from the "7th Heaven" using the now-released tape of his alleged confession to child molestation.

"Over the course of my representation of Stephen in the divorce case, Faye has repeatedly threatened to give this audiotape to the media unless Stephen agreed to pay her millions of dollars more than that to which she was legally entitled," attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan said in a statement to TMZ.

He continued, "When these demands were rebuffed, Faye attempted -- without success -- to peddle the tape in numerous ways to numerous different people. It appears that she has finally found an audience for this tape -- not surprisingly, on the eve of the trial in the divorce case where, again, she is seeking millions of dollars more than that to which she is legally entitled."

As for the contents of the tape, TMZ quotes Kaplan as saying, "Though we would like to address the tape itself, the circumstances dictate that we must regrettably refrain from doing so at this time."

Grant, however, denies having any role in leaking the tape. On Tuesday, she gave this statement to E! News: "I woke up today to learn that an extremely private recording I handed over to the authorities in 2012 per their request in connection with a criminal investigation was recently disseminated to the press. I had no involvement whatsoever with the release of the tape to the media."

Collins, 67, is now being investigated by police. Since the tape emerged, he was cut from a role in "Ted 2," two networks have dropped planned reruns of "7th Heaven" and, Buzzfeed reports he will no longer be featured in an upcoming episode of ABC's "Scandal."