Drake Bell is bravely speaking out publicly for the first time about a horrific time in his life.
The star of Nickelodeon’s Drake & Josh, now 37 years old, has broken his silence about being molested and abused repeatedly when he was a child by dialogue coach Brain Peck.
His revelations come as part of ID’s upcoming four-part docuseries titled Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV. He says in the series, which premieres across two night on March 17 and 18:
“Brian and I became really close because we had a lot of the same interests, which looking back, I think that was probably a little calculated.”
Drake was cast on Nickelodeon’s The Amanda Show back in 1999 when he was 13. The following year, during the first day of the show’s second season, he met Brian. Brian was a dialogue coach who befriended young Drake and invited him to his home for acting lessons.
Later on, Brian became the manager of Drake, Because acting auditions at the time were mostly in Los Angeles, which was over an hour away from where Drake lived with his mom, Drake would spend the night at Brian’s house frequently.
One night, however, everything changed for the then 15-year-old Drake:
“I was sleeping on the couch where I usually sleep and I woke up to him… I opened my eyes and I woke up and he was…he was sexually assaulting me. And I froze, and was in complete shock and had no idea what to do or how to react.
You know anytime I had an audition or anytime I needed to work on dialogue or anything, I somehow ended up back at Brian‘s house. And it just got worse, and worse, and worse, and worse, and I was just trapped. I had no way out. The abuse was extensive and it got pretty brutal.”
He heartbreakingly went on to say:
“I often look back at that time and wonder how in the world I survived.
I remember all of the abusive events, but everything outside of that is very blurry to me, which is a bummer because I experienced a lot of great things in my life and my career during this time. But it was so overshadowed and ruined by what I was dealing with on the inside that it made it really hard for me.”
Back in 2004, in connection with Drake’s case, Brian plead no contest to these charges: Oral copulation with a minor under 16, and performing a lewd act with a 14 or 15-year-old. At the time, Drake’s identity was not made public.
Brian was in prison for 16 months, and he was mandated to register as a sex offender.
Nickelodeon released a statement which said:
“Now that Drake Bell had disclosed his identity as the plaintiff in the 2004 case, we are dismayed and saddened to learn of the trauma he has endured, and we commend and support the strength required to come forward.”
