A SECOND cast member of 1980s sitcom Charles in Charge has accused Scott Baio of abusive behaviour.

“I received regular verbal attacks, mental abuse and I also suffered a physical assault at the hands of Scott Baio,” actor Alexander Polinsky, who played Adam Powell on the sitcom, said in a statement to The Talk.

Polinsky said he witnessed Baio “acting inappropriately” toward Nicole Eggert, who has accused the actor of sexually abusing her when she was a minor.

“Working on the set of Charles in Charge from age 11 to 15 was no picnic. It was a toxic environment. I witnessed Scott Baio acting inappropriately towards Nicole Eggert during my first year of working on the show,” Polinsky said.

“I walked in on them together behind the set. Nicole was on Scott’s lap and he did not appreciate my intrusion. He yelled at me and called me various homophobic slurs.”

Eggert said on The Talk that Polinsky was with her when she filed a police report against Baio earlier in the week and that 10 other witnesses have allegedly made statements in support.

“I want him to admit it,” she said. “The sooner you come clean, the sooner it goes away and you can move on with your life.”

It comes as Eggert has revealed she contemplated taking her own life as she dealt with the alleged abuse.

Eggert has alleged the abuse began on the set of the TV showwhen she was 14 and Baio was 25, and continued “once a week” until she turned 16.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight in the US, she spoke about struggling to cope before finding herself on a Los Angeles bridge and contemplating jumping off.

“I’m sobbing and I looked at it,” she said, “And I said to myself, ‘It’s not a legit bridge, you’re not going to die, you’re going to break a lot of bones and you’re not even going to kill yourself. Get home.’”

Eggert said the pair later had consensual sex when she was 17, but Baio insists she was 18 at the time. He has denied any wrongdoing.

“For so long I hid it because I thought because I didn’t fight back, and because he wasn’t holding me down, that it made it OK — that I was to blame as well,” she said.

“In those days I had moments of being so hurt and so upset, and even thoughts of ending my life.”

A spokesman for Baio told Entertainment Tonight the actor was glad Eggert had gone to the police over the claims, because he will now get the opportunity to clear his name.

The representative said she had made “ever-changing” amendments to her story, which Baio claims are “false and baseless”.

Brian Glicklich, a spokesman for Baio, said: “We are genuinely appalled that Nicole Eggert continues to treat the police and the district attorney as though they are part of her personal publicity campaign.

“We’ve been demanding since last year that Nicole Eggert bring her story to the authorities. It’s good that she finally has, even if it’s part of a publicity campaign. Perhaps she can explain to them her ever-changing story.”