According to the mastermind of late-80s kids’ comedy sensation Pee-wee Herman, a scandal that momentarily put Paul Reubens’ career on hold was based on unsubstantiated charges. Reubens discusses his 1991 arrest for indecent exposure at an adult theater in an interview with Playboy magazine, insisting that the authorities had it all wrong.

To avoid a trial, Reubens’ counsel had him plead no contest.

“Had we gone to trial, we had ready an expert from the Masters and Johnson Institute who was going to testify that in 30 years on research on masturbation the institute had never found one person who masturbated with his or her nondominant hand,” Reubens said.

He added: “I’m right-handed, and the police report said I was jerking off with my left hand. That would have been the end of the case right there, proof it couldn’t have been me.”

Following the 1991 controversy, he hid away with rich philanthropist Doris Duke: “She was always so nice to me… So I called her and said, ‘I’m in trouble.’ She said to come to her house in New Jersey. I said, ‘Wait, wait, wait. Let me tell you. I’m not just in trouble–I’m in trouble! … They put me in the cottage Imelda Marcos had just vacated, and the staff did what they would do for any guest.”

After enduring humiliating headlines and the publication of a memorable mug shot that Reubens himself described as “Charles Manson-y,” the actor decided to just stay quiet and seek help for the shock he felt as a result of the incident — an experience he claims saved his life “when scandal number two happened,” a 2002 arrest for possession of child pornography.

“The police had been given a false tip in an alleged sting operation and came to my house,” Reubens stated. “They thought the wrong thing, and they were there for the wrong reason, and when that became clear, they should have left. Or they should have taken all my computers like they did but spent three minutes looking through them and realized they were wrong. … The state eventually realized I had nothing offensive, but the city attorney decided to put me through three years of hell anyway.”

However, things appear to be looking up for Reubens, who has had newfound success as Pee-wee and received a particularly satisfying thrill out of the Los Angeles run of “The Pee-wee Herman Show’s”

“Every night before I walked onstage, the curtains opened on the ‘Playhouse’ set — nobody had ever seen it other than on TV — and I could feel the oxygen being sucked out of the theatre by the gasp. There’d be this ‘Holy s–t, there’s the Playhouse!'” Reubens said.