We were all stunned to learn that Will Hayden, the star of Discovery Channel's Sons of Guns, was arrested last month and charged with raping his 12-year-old daughter. The stories that surfaced after his arrest were just horrifying: his little girl claimed he took her virginity when she was 11 and then continued to rape her orally and vaginally on an almost daily basis.
Unbelievable.
After his first arrest on August 9 for reportedly molesting a juvenile -- allegedly raping his daughter was actually his second arrest -- his older daughter Stephanie Ford came to his defense. On her Facebook page she called Hayden a "good man" and said "ALL of his children love him very much and are truly sickened that a person would try to do this to our family." It comes as a shock to find out today that Stephanie is now saying she was raped by her father.
Ford, who appears on the show with Hayden, is reportedly recanting her original statement to police and plans to meet with them next week to provide details about reportedly being raped by her father as a child.
Her husband, Kris Ford, made no bones about his feelings when he reportedly posted the following poem, which has since been deleted, on his Facebook page: "You fooled with my wife when she was young. Sucking and groping, do you remember what was done?"
But Hayden's attorney doubts her claims and says this is the first he's heard about this after "45 shows and 20 years." He says he thinks it's odd that these accusations have just come out and believes there's a connection between her claims and the fact that she is no longer making money from the show, which has been canceled in the wake of these arrests.
For the most part, Stephanie has remained mum about the charges. Whether they are true or not remains to be seen, but it would be unfortunate and wrong to use the fact that she previously defended her father against her now. It's not unheard of for victims of sexual abuse to bury their past and try to move on. Perhaps seeing her younger sister go through so much pain has convinced Stephanie to open up about her own experiences.
With that said, Hayden is innocent until proven guilty and we'll have to wait to see what happens.
How do you feel about Stephanie's accusations against her father?
Image via Facebook