Drake Bell details ‘extensive’ and ‘brutal’ sexual abuse by Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck
Drake Bell describes for the first time the horrific grooming and sexual abuse he allegedly experienced at the hands of disgraced Nickelodeon employee Brian Peck when he was just 15 years old.
In the third episode of the Investigation Discovery docuseries “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” the ex-child star recalls the first time he was allegedly molested during a sleepover at Peck’s house.
“I was sleeping on the couch where I would usually sleep. I woke up to him — I opened my eyes, I woke up and he was sexually assaulting me,” Bell remembers, per Variety’s advance viewing of the episode.
“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.”
The Nickelodeon alum — who met Peck while filming Season 2 of “The Amanda Show” — had been staying over at the dialogue coach’s house in Los Angeles as it was closer to the set than his mother’s house in Orange County, Calif.
Peck, now 62, had fostered a close relationship with Bell, now 37, and other kid stars, with former child actor Kyle Sullivan recalling in the docuseries that even “all the parents loved him, too.”
However, Bell’s father, Joe Bell, was not as trusting and says he expressed concern over his then-teen son spending so much time with an adult male.
“I go, ‘I don’t see anything abnormal but it just doesn’t — I don’t have a good feeling,’” Joe says in the episode, per Variety.
However, the worried dad was allegedly dismissed by producers, who reportedly pointed out that Peck is gay, so Joe was just being “homophobic” and didn’t “understand” that the coach was a “touchy-feely guy.”
Joe reportedly felt “ostracized” after speaking out and was allegedly pushed out of his son’s life.
Once Drake had actually become a victim of sexual abuse, he says, Peck was “so apologetic” and promised it would never happen again — but Drake claimed it did.
The former “All That” actor recalls in the docuseries how Peck allegedly convinced his mother and others around him to allow Drake to stay over at his house again, where the alleged abuse got “worse and worse.”
“I was just trapped. I had no way out,” Drake says, further claiming that the abuse became “extensive” and “pretty brutal.”
“Why don’t you think of the worst stuff that someone could do to somebody as a sexual assault, and then I’ll answer your question,” he says. “I don’t know how else to put it.”
Drake says he did not tell anyone because he was “scared” and — until now — had never talked about what happened to him “outside of therapy.”
The “iCarly” alum recalls how Peck would allegedly threaten his career, saying things like, “‘Well, you’re never going to work with this person,'” in order to keep him from speaking out.
However, when Drake landed his leading role in the Nickelodeon sitcom “Drake & Josh” — and Peck attempted to get cast in it — that’s when he thought to himself, “That is not going to happen, you’re not coming anywhere near this show.”
At that point, Drake says, he “exploded” on the phone with his mom, told her everything, and a police investigation was launched.
The “Sam and Cat” alum worked with officers to secretly record Peck by telling him on a call, “I’m really struggling with this stuff now. I’m so torn up, I’m so broken, I’m so emotionally distressed right now. Why did this happen?,” which prompted the latter to confess his crimes.
Drake recalls how strenuous the ordeal was reliving his abuse in front of “strangers” in the police department, causing him to lose his hair and get “big scabs” on his head from the stress.
“These emotions that were going through me, it’s relief and fear,” he adds. “You know, ‘Am I going to survive this?’”
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In 2003, Peck was arrested on 11 charges, including sodomy, a lewd act against a child and oral copulation of a person under 16, and oral copulation by anesthesia or controlled substance.
During the trial, Drake recalls how Peck had a lot of support from people in the industry, including a few famous actors. “Boy Meets World” alums Will Friedle and Rider Strong recently spoke about writing letters to the judge in favor of the dialogue coach and how they now deeply regret their decision.
“I looked at all of them and I just said, ‘How dare you?,’” Drake says in the new docuseries.
“‘You will forever have the memory of sitting in this courtroom and defending this person. And I will forever have the memory of the person you’re defending violating me and doing unspeakable acts and crimes and that’s what I will remember.’”
The “Drake & Josh” alum claims the judge received 41 letters that allegedly consisted of victim-blaming and said Peck must have been “pressured and pushed beyond belief” to do what he did.
In 2004, Peck was finally convicted of sexually abusing an unknown child actor — as Drake’s name had not been released to the public at the time — and sentenced to 16 months in jail.
Following the conviction, Drake says, Dan Schneider, the creator behind several of Nickelodeon’s hit shows, tried to comfort him by asking, “Do you need anything from me? Is there anything that you need?”
Schneider, 58, has been accused of emotional abuse himself and the claims made against him will also be detailed in “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.”
As an adult, Drake has gone on to have issues of his own as he copes with his childhood trauma.
In 2021, he pleaded guilty to a child endangerment charge after prosecutors found he once sent “inappropriate social media messages” to a 15-year-old girl he had met online.
Drake has been ridiculed online over the allegations and struggled with substance abuse amid the turmoil.
In 2023, he was briefly reported missing and received a mental health evaluation once police found him.
“I think that led to a lot of self-destruction and a lot of self-loathing,” Drake says in the upcoming ID docuseries, which airs Sunday and Monday.
“I would try and just escape with alcohol abuse, substance abuse, really just anything to escape.”
Drake adds that there was “definitely a slow decline” in his mental health and sobriety because he “was lost.”
“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,” he says.
Peck, for his part, returned to working on children’s shows after his short stint in jail.
The convicted felon landed a gig at Disney Channel’s “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody,” where he worked alongside director Rich Correll and stage manager Beth Correll — who both worked on “Drake & Josh.”
“I was hoping that the outcome would be that he goes to jail, he is there for a while and that he would never be able to work with kids again, which would in turn pretty much mean that you’re not gonna work in Hollywood, because very few productions don’t have a least one kid on the set,” Drake says.
“That’s not what happened at all.”
Per Variety, Peck worked on only three episodes of “The Suite Life” off set and was not near children. He was reportedly “immediately terminated” once Disney learned of his conviction.
Page Six reached out to Peck’s reps for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Nickelodeon tells Page Six in a lengthy statement, “Though we cannot corroborate or negate allegations of behaviors from productions decades ago, Nickelodeon as a matter of policy investigates all formal complaints as part of our commitment to fostering a safe and professional workplace environment free of harassment or other kinds of inappropriate conduct.
“Our highest priorities are the well-being and best interests not just of our employees, casts and crew, but of all children, and we have adopted numerous safeguards over the years to help ensure we are living up to our own high standards and the expectations of our audience.”
They added of Drake, “We are dismayed and saddened to learn of the trauma he has endured, and we commend and support the strength required to come forward.”
