One year after Drake Bell revealed in Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV that he was sexually abused as a child actor during his Nickelodeon tenure, he appeared on his former co-star Josh Peck’s podcast, Good Guys, co-hosted with Ben Soffer, to discuss the trauma, their hot-and-cold friendship and the show’s legacy.
“This is going to be like therapy,” Bell said at the top of the episode, which premiered on March 24. Through the years, Bell and Josh have aired their grievances, with the takeaway being that while their names will forever be linked, their friendship — from working together as children on a show that debuted over 20 years ago (and The Amanda Show before that) — faded. During the conversation, they acknowledged that even while on Drake & Josh things were complicated as they navigated stardom, adolescence and Bell reporting Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck (no relation to Josh) for sexual abuse. “There were times when we hung out a lot and we were close, and then there were times when, not for any reason, [we] just weren’t,” Bell said. “We were dealing with a lot of shit outside of our … working [relationship].”
Bell explained that between The Amanda Show ending in 2002 and Drake & Josh premiering in 2004, he told his mother about being sexually assaulted by Brian Peck, who was 26 years his senior, and they went to police. During the investigation, Brian continued to come to the set — and teen Bell had to proceed like it was business as usual.
“When we shot the pilot, we were in the middle of the investigation, but nobody [knew] anything because Brian hadn’t been arrested,” Bell said. “The worst part about it [was] having the monster in [my] safe place,” on the set where he and Josh would “goof around and put on our masks and wigs and makeup and make people laugh.” He continued, “Every day I got there [and] the monster was there. … He’s walking around set.” So what should have been this great experience for them was just the opposite because of the background drama that was Bell’s secret.
“I’m entering the Drake & Josh phase, where we should be … partners. This is our time. Let’s do it. [But] I came back to the same stage, the same parking lot, the same dressing rooms… Everything’s triggering,” Bell said. “And in the back of my head the whole time I’m working on the pilot, I know that there’s this investigation happening [and] this guy’s about to get arrested [and] that shit is about to hit the fan and nobody in here knows it. And I’m 14 or 15.”
Bell said he “was losing my hair” and had “golf-ball size scabs” on his head from the stress. Brian pleaded no contest to performing a lewd act with a 14- or 15-year-old and oral copulation with a minor under 16 in 2004. At his sentencing, Brian had a room of supporters and had submitted about 40 letters from well-known people in the industry attesting to his good character, which made Bell feel even more alone and confused.
The identity of the minor “John Doe” was mostly a secret. Josh, who was also largely in the dark, talked about not knowing what to make of Brian, who had been “everpresent” on the set, suddenly disappearing. (Brian served 18 months in prison.)
“I didn’t know anything except I had a feeling something happened,” Josh said. “I remember we’re in the car … and I said: ‘Do you still talk to Brian?’ And you just looked at me [and said] ‘No, Brian’s a really bad guy.’ And I remember thinking, ‘Gotcha.’ It was all that I needed to know.” Josh talked about their being “many inappropriate things” going on in the kid-centric workplace and an overall “lack of protection.” Josh said it was “absolutely insane” that those types of things “could have been allowed in any respect. At 14, I remember going, This relationship is inappropriate.” Bell said he also wrestles with that but doesn’t want what happened to him to ruin the show, which he holds close to his heart.
“I had a lot of people reaching out, [saying], ‘Oh, don’t worry, Drake, we’ll never watch the show ever again [because we know] what you were going through while you were making [it],” he said. “I’m like: Whoa, whoa. No, no, no, no, no. When [it was] lights, camera, action and I walk in and Josh is wearing a dress, that … was where I actually was comfortable and happy and stoked. I’m very proud of what we did. I loved the show.”
Josh added, “It was very special — and you can’t re-create it.”
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