Drake Bell opens up sexual assault he suffered from Brian Peck | Images: Screengrab from Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV/Youtube and IMDB
For the first time, former child star Drake Bell opened up to the public about the sexual abuse he suffered in the hands of his then Nickelodeon acting coach, Brian Peck, in a tell-all documentary that served as a sort of catharsis for him.
Nickelodeon is now at the center of controversy following the release of a new documentary, “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” which explores the sexual and other forms of abuse that child actors from hit shows of the American TV channel faced at the time.
In one of the episodes of the documentary, Bell detailed his experience during his tenure acting in that “changed everything” for him, leading to self-destructive activities in order to cope with his situation then as a 15-year-old abuse victim who felt he had not choice but to hide the assault because “he did not know what to do.”
Just like the other kids who he did not name who were trying out their luck in Hollywood, he was entrusted to the capable hands of Peck, then a voice coach and actor, who was onboard with the then 12-year-old Bell on “The Amanda Show,” the eponymous live comedy sketch for ’90s young star Amanda Bynes. He and the others were regularly at Peck’s home in Los Angeles, California, and nobody thought much of it as Peck was considered in their circle as a “nice guy.”
The abuse happened quite unexpectedly, said Bell.
“I was sleeping on the couch where I would usually sleep. I opened my eyes and he was sexually assaulting me. I froze and was in complete shock and had no idea what to do or how to react, and I have no idea how to get out of this situation,” he said.
The “Drake & Josh” actor remarked that Peck tried “to apologize and assured him that the act would never happen again.” At the time, Bell also thought that if he reacted to what happened, it would be a reason for him to stop going to his dialogue coach’s house, and people would start speculating that there was something wrong.
However, Bell asserted that Peck “figured out how to convince his mom” to let him come over more than usual, which made the abuse more frequent and “brutal.”
“I somehow ended up back at Brian’s house and it just got worse and worse and worse and worse. I was just trapped. I had no way out. The abuse was extensive and it got pretty brutal. I don’t know how to elaborate on that on camera, really,” revealed the actor.
Despite giving his acting coach the benefit of the doubt, Bell was proven otherwise as he recalled that the situation became a “mental manipulation” as Peck would give him the impression that if he went to the public about the abuse, it’s a one-way ticket for him “to never work in Hollywood again.”
Peck’s arrest, Bell’s self-loathing
Eventually, Bell had a breakdown that made him tell his mom about everything that went down between him and Peck, which led to the latter’s 2003 arrest. At the time, the dialogue coach was arrested on 11 charges, including sodomy, but no one knew at Nickelodeon that Bell was the victim.
The “Suite Life” star recalled that even though he came back to work after his abuser was arrested, he was never the same, saying he suffered from “self-destruction” because of the trauma he experienced.
“I think that led to a lot of self-destruction and a lot of self-loathing. I would try and just escape with alcohol abuse, substance abuse, really just anything to escape,” he shared.
During Peck’s court hearing, he received support from colleagues and celebrities in the industry, then pleaded no contest to two charges of child sexual abuse and was sentenced to 16 months in prison. But after his release, the sex offender landed a job at Disney Channel.
Despite his sexual abuse experience, Bell had his shares of abuse allegations. His former girlfriend accused him of physical and verbal abuse and exhibiting inappropriate behavior towards underage girls. He was arrested and pleaded guilty to charges of attempted child endangerment and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles in 2021.
“There was definitely a slow decline in my mental health, sobriety, DUIs, behaviors that were happening because I was lost,” Bell said as he recalled the legal troubles he got caught up in.
“If I had continued down that path, that could very likely be the end of my story… I was at rock bottom and so, I checked in to treatment and I got to go through a lot of trauma therapy, a lot of grief therapy and be surrounded by people who, for the first time in a long time, wanted to just see me get better,” added the actor.
Peck served jail term for a brief period, but was able to return to television for a time. He was soon ejected after his incarceration was made known.