‘Saved By the Bell’ Star Mark-Paul Gosselaar Details His Experience as Child Actor When Asked About ‘Quiet on Set’

Mark-Paul Gosselaar spoke out about the new documentary Quiet on Set, comparing it to his own experience as a child actor. Gosselaar rose to fame as a teen actor in the 1980s on Saved by the Bell, helping to pave the way for the teen shows that followed, like those on Nickelodeon. In an interview with Page Six on Monday night, he said that his experience was very different.

“I feel really, really awful for them having gone through that,” Gosselaar said, referring to actors like Drake Bell who have come forward with their stories. He added: “I couldn’t relate because that’s not how our set was run at all. As a cast, I think we’re all pretty unscathed in a way. We had good family, good producers protecting us, good teachers, so I feel awful that anyone had to go through that, especially children.”

“The only thing I can say from my experience is I was very aware of it being a business and people will do anything for the bottom line at times,” Gosselaar went on. Now 50 years old, Gosselaar got his start on Saved by the Bell at the age of 16. He co-starred with Mario Lopez, Elizabeth Berkley, Dustin Diamond, Lark Voorhies and Tiffani Thiessen.

While that cast often looks back fondly on their work together and reunited for panels at fan conventions, the stories laid out in Quiet on Set are much more harrowing. The docu-series describes allegations of sexism, racism and bullying on the sets of Zoey 101, All That and Drake & Josh. In particular, it focuses on Drake Bell, who revealed publicly for the first time that he was sexually assaulted by his former dialogue coach, Brian Peck.

Bell, now 37, reported the attack at the time without disclosing his identity, and Peck was convicted a few years later. However, the documentary details his ongoing trauma from the experience and the struggles of child actors in general. It also details the allegations against producer Dan Schneider, who ran many of Nickelodeon’s live-action teen comedies for years before he was fired in 2018.

Since the release of Quiet on Set, many former child stars have spoken out – some reluctantly. For example, Zoey 101 star Matthew Underwood made an Instagram post saying that he had been asked to respond publicly to the documentary but had resisted due to his own experience with sexual abuse. He said he was “groomed and molested” at the age of 12, and that speaking out in a docu-series was not productive for his own personal healing.

Quiet on Set is streaming now on Max. A follow-up episode was released this weekend.