Drake Bell Says He Leaned on Josh Peck, Who “Knew What Was Going On” With Brian Peck

Drake Bell is thankful for his Drake & Josh co-star Josh Peck’s support.

After revealing on docuseries Quiet on Set that he was the previously unnamed minor who was sexually abused by actor and voice coach Brian Peck (no relation to Josh Peck), Bell spoke out on the podcast Not Skinny but Not Fat about how much Josh reaching out privately meant to him.

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“Josh worked on The Amanda Show, so he saw and knew what was going on,” said Bell on the April 2 episode. “I appreciate that he reached out to me privately and he didn’t go straight to the media, because he was there with me and saw what I was going through.”

Bell then clarified that he doesn’t know if Josh knew specifics about the situation, but knew Bell had been abused by Brian and how “sensitive” it was for him at the time. “Of course, watching the documentary, he learned so much of what I’d gone through that I think he was just so sensitive and made sure to reach out to me privately,” said Bell.

After fans questioned why Josh hadn’t openly supported his TV brother on social media following Quiet on Set, Bell made a TikTok explaining that Josh had reached out privately.

“I just want to clear something up,” he said in the TikTok. “I’ve noticed a lot of comments on some of Josh’s TikToks and some of his posts and I just want to let you guys know that processing this and going through this is a really emotional time and a lot of it is very, very difficult.”

Bell continued, “So not everything is put out to the public, but I just want you guys to know that he has reached out to me, and it’s been very sensitive, but he has reached out to talk with me and help me work through this and has been really, really great. So I just wanted to let you guys know that and to take it a little easy on him.”

Peck has also since spoken out publicly, explaining, “I reached out to Drake privately, but wanted to give my support for the survivors who were brave enough to share their stories of emotional and physical abuse on Nickelodeon sets with the world.” He added that “children should be protected,” after watching the series about toxic working environments for child stars.

Speaking about working under Dan Schneider on both The Amanda Show and Drake & Josh, Bell shared that his experience with the showrunner wasn’t how it was described by other Nickelodeon stars on the docuseries. “I can only speak to my experience and he was one of the few people that was really there for me during the time,” said the actor.

He also opened up about working alongside Amanda Bynes, praising her comedy chops. “I can only speak to my experience while I was working with Amanda and that was that she was…just an incredible talent,” Bell said. “She was so funny, she was so, she was like a rocket ship. She got on set and she was just, the talent that just oozed from her effortlessly was awe-inspiring.”

Bell additionally delved into his 2021 felony charge of attempted child endangerment and a misdemeanor charge of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles. He maintained that his relationship with the young fan was only via texts, never physical, and said he cut contact upon finding out her age.

“I’d responded on some DMs and was incredibly irresponsible, and got myself into conversations that I shouldn’t have had, and I ended up finding out that I was talking to someone that I shouldn’t have been talking to, and it snowballed into these allegations that were not true, and it just turned into this big thing,” he explained.

Bell continued, “I was being investigated, and that was really difficult on my family, and thankfully through 18 months of subpoenaing my social media and computers and witnesses and everything, it turned out a lot of most of what was being accused of me was not true.”

Investigation Discovery is adding a fifth episode to the docuseries, premiering April 7. The special, titled Quiet on Set: Breaking the Silence, will be moderated by Soledad O’Brien and will delve deeper into the various claims of Nickelodeon creating a toxic workplace for the child stars and crew.

Bell is slated to return, alongside other network stars who appeared in the previous episodes, including Giovonnie Samuels and Bryan Hearne. All That alum Shane Lyons will also make his first appearance on the documentary.

April 3, 9:30 a.m. Updated to include Bell’s comments from the podcast on the allegations of past abuse against him.

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