Josh Peck and Paige O'Brien Want to Use Their Parenting Struggles to Help Others

The now-married former 'Josh & Drake' stars are parents of a 4-year-old and a 5-month-old are using their experiences to help other new parents.

Parenthood is hard no matter your background. Yes, even if you were a Nickelodeon Teen star in the 2000s.

Josh Peck starred in Drake and Josh (2004-2007) with Drake Bell and Paige O'Brien, Peck's now-wife of almost six years. Josh and Paige married in June 2017 and are parents to two boys, Max Milo, 4, and Shai Miller, 5 months. Like many second-time parents, they've realized how much easier it is when you've been in the baby trenches before.

"For Paige and I, we're all about supporting new parents. We're not those parents who like to scare new parents and tell them about all the reasons why they'll never be able to have brunch again," Josh said.

To help more parents feel from the start the way they do now, the couple has partnered with Enfamil to bring awareness to the brand's Family Beginnings program. At its core, it's rewards program for parents who buy Enfamil products like baby formula that provides them with coupons, free samples and "baby goodies."

But Enfamil Family Beginnings goes a step further with an app that provides 24/7 access to a nurse to ease worries that come up in the middle of the night and also provide some peace of mind when choosing formula.

"There's no Formula Sommelier, right? You're never going to know exactly what's right for your kid," Josh said.

In addition to parenting, Josh has a lot on his plate as he's starring in Christopher Nolan's atomic bomb thriller Oppenheimer, opening July 21. He and Paige sat down with Parade to discuss parenting times two, their favorite teen stars and the star Josh is manifesting to work with.

So what's it like being parents of two kiddos now?

Paige: It's awesome and so fun, and, you know, a lot of work. Our younger son is 5 months. He's still not sleeping totally through the night, but we're getting through it and we're kind of seeing a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel, which is nice. Our older son is an amazing big brother who loves his little brother and it's very sweet to see them together.

What are some rules you are more relaxed on with your second child?

Josh: There might be a little more screen time.

Paige: The first time around I was really adamant about a schedule and adhering to the schedule. He eats at this time, goes to bed at this time and never really strayed from that. With our second son, I don't know if it's as much as it was a decision for us, but it just has happened that his schedule changes and it is what it is.

What can you tell me about your parenting styles? I think it's funny that you have very different Instagrams. Josh is goofy and doing skits while Paige has a very neat and ascetic profile. Are your parenting styles the same?

Josh: That's a wonderful observation. My parenting style is defer to Paige. Of course, there's always structure and making sure there's limits for your kids. But Paige sort of leads with this loving sort of soft hand and in mirroring her, I find our kids have this wonderful sort of calm sense about them, which I think is due in large part to her style.

Paige: I think that our lives growing up were very different. Josh grew up in the city with a single mom who worked really hard. He was alone a lot. Whereas I grew up in a big family and everyone was super close. And so I think that we kind of carry those things with us into our parenting styles and we blend very well together. We kind of balance each other out in a lot of ways.

Second-time parents are a lot more confident in their parenting choices. What are some things that we can do to help the new parents who are hearing a lot of opinions, especially when it comes to feeding their baby?

Paige: I think that everyone's journey and experience and children are all very different. So I think that, you know, you can get advice from other people or you can have this idea in your head of what your specific journey is. But I just think that you have to be adaptable. I had every intention of breastfeeding and I just wasn't making enough milk to properly feed my child. So there was to me no shame in going straight to formula and making sure that he was properly fed. It was a little harder the first time to come to terms with that and to deviate from the plan that you had in your head. But for the second time we were like, 'No, we've been down this road before.' We know that this is what works for us and it's been great.

So when your kids get to the right age, are you going to let them watch some of the stuff that you've been in, Josh?

Josh: Yesterday, I was showing my son the show, Turner & Hooch, which I made for Disney Plus. It's got a lot of action and a cute dog so my son was all about it. I think so. I imagine by the time he's old enough to watch some of my stuff he will be totally over me and not interested. You know, he'll probably be watching the fifth iteration of, a Stranger Things reboot. But yeah, I am more than happy to share it with him. I like anyone that's a fan of me, especially my kids.

You've recently had a bit of a viral moment from your podcast. You were talking to Hilary Duff and you opened up about some difficult topics and then you just had this outpouring of support from a lot of fans. What was that like to witness firsthand?

Josh: On my podcast, ‘Good Guys,’ I sort of made a joke and I talked about it in my book [Happy People Are Annoying, March 2022 HarperOne] too. I've been lucky enough to be sober for the last 15 years and never been very public about it. Though my book and now my podcast I've had an opportunity to share that with the world.

And if my experience can be helpful in any way, then it just makes me feel that much better because I know when people were willing to be vulnerable and share their experience helped me early on. So that support and everyone loving that clip made me feel really great. And it's also the power of Hilary Duff, because, man, that girl has some celebrity power. The people love her. I love her. We love her.

Tell us what it was like working on Oppenheimer.

Josh: I have a small part in Christopher Nolan's new film and just being an insane fan of his and all the people involved in the movie. And getting to share scenes with Cillian Murphy and Matt Damon, it was just a masterclass. I love being around people who are operating at a high level so I can basically steal from them. I'm trying to figure out all their cheat codes and their hacks and so getting to just watch these greats operate at that high level was an honor. And I'm very proud to be a part of it. Any time I have an opportunity to work with someone like that who I really look up to, I run at it.

Paige, I know you're friends with Miranda Cosgrove. Do you get to go on the set of iCarly at all when Josh made his cameos? 

Paige: I've actually never been to the set.

Josh: There were all these COVID protocols in place.

Paige: Hopefully in the future, if [Josh goes] back on. I would love to. I love Miranda. She's so sweet and she's one of the people from Josh's world that she and I just instantly connected. I think she's adorable, and we get along so well. So we, like, go out to lunch together. Josh is always like, “What are you doing today?” I'm like, “Oh, I'm going to go see Miranda.” I stole her from him, but she's the best. I would love to go to visit them at work. I'm always texting them and they are sending me photos from set, and I'm like, "It's not fair. Rude."

Josh: She played my little sister [on Josh & Drake] and I've known her since she was 9. Now she's going to be 30. I'll never be able to get rid of that protective older brother mentality like anytime she tells me about some boy she's dating, I'm like, “Is he nice to you? Otherwise, we may have words.”

What's the role or goal that you haven't done that you would like to do?

Josh: I don't know why I shirk away from this question. So I decided to answer it directly. I really want to work with Denzel Washington. I've been thinking about that because like one of my favorites. I've been so lucky, and I've had friends talk a lot about manifesting lately, so I'm putting it out into the universe: "Mr. Washington I am a massive fan."

Paige: This is the first I've heard of this.

Josh: I also rewatched Philadelphia recently. He's so damn good.

Paige: Wow. Interesting. Learn something new about each other every day—after 12 years.

I think just slowly getting back into designing and creating once everything's a little more settled—just back into working and staying creative and working on my own things to keep my mind busy.

And I'm always interested in learning new hobbies. I want to know how things are made. My friend Leslie called and said, “Do you want to start doing metalworking?” And was like, “Great, sign me up. Let’s do it.” Always learning new little trades, I guess.

Josh: My soldering queen.