Will Friedle Reveals He Apologized To Drake Bell For Supporting His Abuser During Assault Trial: “I Made A Huge Mistake”

Will Friedle and Drake Bell have officially made peace, according to the Boy Meets World actor.

Earlier this year, Bell came forward as a victim of child sexual assault in the explosive ID documentary Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV in which he revealed dialogue coach Brian Peck groomed and assaulted him when he was a teenager working at Nickelodeon. Though Peck was later convicted, several actors and celebrities showed their support for Peck by attending the trial and writing letters of support to the judge, including Friedle and his Boy Meets World co-star Rider Strong.

Bell called the Boy Meets World stars out on social media, but Friedle said he recently got in touch with the actor and had an “amazing” conversation about the misunderstanding. Friedle explained on the Pod Meets World podcast that he realized Peck had lied to him about the victim’s age when he saw Bell walk into the court room that fateful day. He also clarified that he did not know who Bell was at the time, as the child actor was unnamed in the trial due to his age.

“I’m sitting in the back of the courtroom,” Friedle recalled on the podcast. “There’s no social media. I am 26 years old at the time. I don’t watch Nickelodeon. I don’t know who Drake Bell is. I see a kid walk into the courtroom, and I’m like, Okay, I’ve been lied to. Automatically, I know this.”

He said that he and Bell had an “instant connection” when they finally got in touch to talk it through.

“He started the conversation by saying to me, ‘Before you say a word, I want you to know I love you and I forgive you,’” Friedle said. “All I wanted to do from the day in that courtroom was apologize to whoever was there. The idea that I found out later that he was standing in front of me, and I did not have that [chance] was nuts.”

The Quiet on Set doc reportedly inspired him to reach out and make amends.

“It was like…I have to connect, reach out to Drake and obviously apologize, but also just hopefully lessen his burden in some way because he had done this courageous thing back then and still doing it now, and to just let him know that it wasn’t this wall of people behind Brian knowing what he did and supporting him still, but it was actually this completely misinformed [group],” he said.

He appeared regretful on Pod Meets World as he reflected on the “huge mistake” he made in supporting Peck.

“There comes a point where you have to look at yourself and go, ‘I have to be okay that I made a huge mistake, that I owe this person an enormous apology, that it’s not going to be enough and I’m going to spend a ton of time apologizing to this person,’” Friedle said. “You have to use that to move on to become a better person yourself.”

Bell has also publicly forgiven Strong, announcing, “I have nothing but love and forgiveness for him.”

The Quiet on Set doc is now streaming on Max.

If you or someone you know needs to reach out about sexual abuse or assault, RAINN is available 24/7 at 800-656-HOPE (4673), or online at RAINN.org.