Actor Drake Bell told his former Nickelodeon co-star Josh Peck that he worried about the fate of their friendship after he reported allegations of child abuse during their time on “Drake & Josh.”
via: EW
Bell revealed that the “worst part” of returning to set to film the Drake & Josh pilot was knowing that his abuser, convicted sex offender Brian Peck, was also somewhere on the premises.
The actor, who detailed being repeatedly sexually abused by Brian as a teen in the 2024 docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, explained on a recent episode of costar Josh Peck’s Good Guys podcast that an investigation had been launched into Brian’s predatory behavior before shooting the sitcom's pilot, but that the dialogue coach had yet to be arrested so no one else on set was aware of the allegations against him.
“I had to come back from The Amanda Show — where the dude was, where the abuse was happening — [and] the worst part about it being… having the monster in your safe place,” Bell confessed. “The only place where I feel comfortable is when I get to set and hang out with you guys, and we goof around, put on our masks, and wigs, and makeup, and make people laugh, and slide around and get dirty. Like, that’s where I feel safe.”
The 38-year-old noted that, at the time, he didn’t consider his home to be a safe space — and, due to Brian's presence, the set wasn't either. “Where I felt most comfortable, where I was the happiest, was when I was on set with you guys,” he added. “And the worst part was, every day I got there, the monster was there.”
Bell, whose anonymous accounts of the sexual abuse he endured from Brian Peck led to the coach's 2003 arrest and conviction admitted that he suffered "mental breaks" during the investigation process, especially when Brian showed up on set during filming. “So I’m coming back, he hasn’t been arrested, and I don’t know if you remember but he came and visited during the pilot, and… that was an issue,” he said. “But I still had to play like, ‘Oh, hey, cool! Whatever! You’re about to get arrested, bro, and you don’t even know!’”
Brian's looming presence also took away all the joy that Bell should’ve been experiencing in co-headlining his own Nickelodeon series, which would go on to run for four seasons from 2004 until 2007.
“Now I’m entering the Drake & Josh phase, where we should be like, bro, partners, like, ‘This is our time! Let’s be in this together! This is just the first step!’” he recalled. “But I came back to the same stage, the same parking lot, the same dressing rooms, the same green room, the same makeup rooms. And in the back of my head, the whole time I’m doing the pilot, I know that there’s this investigation happening, I know that this guy’s about to get arrested, I know that s---’s about to hit the fan, and nobody in here knows it. And I’m 14 or 15.”
Bell explained that, at that time, he wasn’t upset that other adults on set weren't aware of Brian's abusive behavior. “You don’t really notice it that much, but as you grow into an adult — I mean, we’re dads now — I think it’s unbelievably illuminating to see like how… now it’s really confusing," he said. "Now it’s very confusing to how there could be that many people around and not do anything. I’m like, ‘What?’”
Brian was ultimately convicted of child molestation in 2004, where he pleaded no contest to one charge of oral copulation with a minor under 16 and another of performing a lewd act with a 14- or 15-year-old. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender.
During his trial, more than 40 individuals — including Taran Killam, James Marsden, Will Friedle, and Rider Strong — penned character letters of support of the coach. In the year since the release of Quiet On Set, Bell has revealed that a collection of individuals — including Friedle and Strong — have reached out to offer their support.
“It's nice to hear those kinds of things,” he said in a recent PEOPLE interview.
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