Drake Bell Opens up About Abuse During Nickelodeon Tenure

Drake Bell, one-half of the hit Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh, is identifying himself as the unidentified minor who was part of a 2004 sexual misconduct lawsuit against Brian Peck. The revelation came as part of the actor's appearance in Investigation Discovery's upcoming four-part docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, which explores the secret harmful culture behind some of the most iconic children's shows of the late 1990s and early 2000s on the network, many of which were produced by Dan Schneider. Schneider was reportedly a monster to work with on set and abusive in his own right. He was fired from the network in 2018 and has since apologized for his part in creating a hostile and toxic work environment. Bell however says he confided in Schnieder about Peck and was immediately offered support. In connection with Bell's case, Peck pleaded no contest to a charge of oral copulation with a minor under 16, as well as a charge of performing a lewd act with a 14- or 15-year-old. He spent 16 months in prison and was mandated to register as a sex offender. 

"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," Bell says in the docuseries. The actor's father, Joe Bell, expressed his concerns with production about Peck, and claims he "ostracized" on set and "backed off."

Peck later became Bell's manager, and Bell says he manipulated him by putting negative thoughts about his father in his mind, claiming his father was potentially stealing money from him and ruining his career. Peck would frequently accompany Bell to acting auditions in Los Angeles, which was a far distance from where Bell lived with his mother. As a result, Bell would frequently spend the night at Peck's house, and eventually, a rift between he and his father occurred as he and Peck grew closer. But everything changed one fateful evening as Bell recounts in the series. 

"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," Bell claims. At the time of the alleged abuse, Bell was 15. "And I froze, and was in complete shock and had no idea what to do or how to react."

The abuse continued because he stayed with Peck for auditions. "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," Bell added, noting, "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."

The events have left him with severe trauma, including public substance abuse struggles, as well as his own sexual child endangerment scandal.  

"I often look back at that time and wonder how in the world I survived," he says. "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."

Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, premieres across two nights on ID from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET/PT on March 17 and March 18. Other Nickelodeon stars and former executives and employees share their own accounts.