Jerry O’Connell starred with Wil Wheaton in the 1986 Rob Reiner film “Stand By Me” but regrets not standing by his castmate when the cameras weren’t running.
The two had a mini-cast reunion Thursday on the set of the CBS talk show “The Talk,” and O’Connell used the occasion to comment on previous accusations made by Wheaton that he was emotionally abused by his parents on the set of the film.
“I heard before you talk about some of the struggles you were going through during ’Stand By Me,’ and you know, while I was 11 at the time, that’s an excuse. I do want to apologize for not being there more for you when you were younger,” O’Connell told Wheaton. “But I want to say, to the bigger picture, you never know what someone is going through when you’re with them. I don’t feel guilt, but I just want to say I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you more.”
Wheaton said he “deeply appreciated” O’Connell’s apology, but added, “You were 11. How could you have possibly known? Also, everyone in the audience who is a trauma survivor knows this: We’re real, real, real good at covering up what we’re going through.”
You can see the exchange below: