Jessica Biel is revisiting her 7th Heaven years and one of the most cringe-inducing memories from her teen days on the WB set involves a car, a learner’s permit, and a very unlucky reverse.
Appearing on the rewatch podcast Catching Up With the Camdens with former costars Beverley Mitchell, David Gallagher, and Mackenzie Rosman, Biel recalled an incident from when she was still learning to drive and didn’t yet have a full license. The story came up as the group swapped “glorious set” memories, with Rosman and Mitchell nudging Biel toward what they jokingly framed as the “real dirt” from those years.
Biel said she was driving her parents’ Subaru on the lot when she “popped the clutch,” causing the car to shoot backward. The result: she reversed into Rosman’s school trailer, damaged it badly enough to knock it off its supports, and smashed a computer inside. Biel also recalled that in the chaos she nearly hit her younger brother, a detail that made the moment feel far more frightening than funny at the time.
The castmates remembered Biel being visibly shaken afterward, which tracks with how she describes the incident now, as one of those teenage mistakes that sticks with you because it happened in front of your work “family” and on a busy production set.
Even with the embarrassment, Biel’s conversation with her former cast underscored how formative the series was for her. She talked about the set environment as supportive while she was growing up in the industry, a place where she learned stamina, craft, and professionalism long before she transitioned fully into film and later producing.
The episode also touched on the complicated legacy of 7th Heaven in the years since it ended, including the criminal misconduct of former costar Stephen Collins. In the discussion, the hosts and Biel clarified that the younger cast members were not subjected to inappropriate behavior and do not condone what happened, a sober note amid the nostalgia.
