Drake Bell, a year after talking about the abuses he endured during his Nickelodeon days, found “therapy” in a meeting for a long time.
The Co-Stars of “Drake & Josh” Bell and Josh Peck gathered on Peck and “Good Guys” by Ben Soffer and Ben Soffer podcast To remedy their friendship for years, revisit their successful sitcom and reassess how the abuse bell experienced by a former Nickelodeon dialogue coach had an impact on both. Bell started walking in the past with a warning.
“I don't know if it's just because we have made a lot of bad choices in our lives or if it's just trauma, but I have a lot of trouble remembering a lot,” he said.
The one hour conversation between the old 38-year-old co-stars, who first shared the screen on “Amanda Show” from Nickelodeon before the headliner “Drake & Josh”, built on the revelation Bell shared last year in the documentary “Calm on the set.” In four -part identification documentary centers, Bell went public About the sexual abuses he was confronted by the former coach of the dialogue Nickelodeon Brian Peck (without relation to Josh Peck). Brian Peck was found guilty of sexual abuse on children in 2004, but the name of his victim was not disclosed at the time. Bell confirmed in “Quiet on set” that he was the unidentified victim referenced in the case.
In the Podcast on Monday, Peck told his ex co-star that at the start of “Drake & Josh”, he was not aware of Bell's experience and that “this separation started between us” as a result. Bell explained that the investigation into Brian Peck and “everything you saw in the documentary” coincided with the shooting of the pilot “Drake & Josh”. This made the shooting and the return to a complicated Nickelodeon set, said Bell.
Being on the set was the place where he felt “the happiest and most comfortable” but “the worst was every day I got there, the monster was there,” he said. Bell said that despite his desires to focus on building his comedy partnership with Peck, “I returned to the same scene, to the same parking lot, in the same locker room, to the same green piece, with the same makeup rooms.”
Peck replied: “Everything is triggered.”
Bell recalled how Brian Peck's abuse survey was discreetly profit from production. He said that people on the set would have authorized the behavior of his attacker and were “nothing”. Bell also recalled “losing my hair” due to the stress of the investigation.
“I had these giant crusts on my head,” he said, “it was like golf-ball crusts.”
Peck said he was not aware that Bell had suffered sexual abuse before “Calm on the set”, But recalled that “feeling something happened”. He remembered having asked Bell during their days “Drake & Josh” if he was still in contact with Brian Peck.
“You just looked at me like,” no. Brian is a very mean “, and I remember thinking,” Gotcha “,” said Peck.
Later in the podcast, Bell recalled Brian Peck's trial and that the courtroom “was full of people I thought I was my friends”. He said he also asked at the time if he was at fault.
“Drake & Josh” marks a complicated moment for Bell, but he does not want to discourage fans from enjoying the series, which was broadcast on Nickelodeon from 2004 to 2007. “It was there that I was actually comfortable and happy and delighted,” he said, “and I am very proud of what we have done.”
Bell and Peck Are will continue their conversation in another episode.
“I contacted Drake in private, but I wanted to provide my support to the survivors who were courageous enough to share their stories of emotional and physical violence on the sets of Nickelodeon with this world”, Peck said in March 2024 After the broadcast of the doc.
“Children must be protected,” added Peck at the time. “Relive this publicly is incredibly difficult, but I hope it can heal for the victims and their families as well as for the changes necessary for our industry.”
After appearing on “Quiet on Set”, which mainly focused on the producer Dan Schneider“S controversial Nickelodeon Reign, Bell said last year He wanted to tell his own story.
“I could have let it destroy or make myself stronger for him,” said Bell about his son with ex-wife Janet von Schmeling.
