Drake Bell Shares He Was Sexually Abused at 15
Content warning: this story discusses sexual assault.
Drake Bell is opening up about a harrowing time.
The Nickelodeon alum has come forward as the unnamed minor involved in the 2004 sexual assault conviction of Brian Peck, who was hired as an acting and dialogue coach for season two of the network's All That.
Bell shared his story in a new Investigation Discovery documentary titled Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, much of which is focused on the difficult working conditions under Dan Schneider, who worked on Nickelodeon shows including All That as well as The Amanda Show, Zoey 101, iCarly and Victorious.
In the documentary, per Today, Bell shares that the abuse occurred at Peck's home over the course of several months after the acting coach ingratiated himself into the teenaged actor's life by way of turning Bell against his father, who apparently expressed his concerns about Peck to the network.
"I think Brian got a sense that my dad was on the watch," Bell explained, noting Peck expressed worries Bell's father wasn't good for his career. "And so he started to really drive a wedge between my dad and me."
Soon after, Peck allegedly turned Bell's mother against her ex-husband as well, which resulted in Peck being the one to drive a then-teenage Bell to and from auditions and sets.
According to the Drake and Josh alum, this meant that Bell often spent the night at Peck's house, as the distance back to his Orange County home was too far for certain late nights.
"Everything changed with Brian one morning," Bell said. "I knew that my life was going to be absolutely, completely different from that point on."
"I was sleeping on the couch where I would usually sleep and I woke up to him...I opened my eyes, I woke up and he was sexually assaulting me," he remembered. "And I froze and was in complete shock and had no idea what to do or how to react."
The 37-year-old, per Today, goes on to share how the abuse went on for months—during which time Bell felt "trapped" and as though he had "no way out"—until one day he was on the phone with his mother and "just exploded."
"I have no idea what provoked it," he noted. "I have no idea what happened. But I just screamed into the phone everything that had been happening to me."
His mother subsequently called the police and in August 2003, Peck was arrested. Peck pleaded no contest to two charges that included lewd act upon a child 14 or 15 by a person 10 years older and oral copulation of a person under 16, according to court documents viewed by E! News.
The now 63-year-old ultimately served over a year in prison, in addition to being made to register as a sex offender.
E! News has reached out to Peck and Nickelodeon for comment but has not yet heard back, however Nickelodeon did share a statement with NBC News.
"Now that Drake Bell has disclosed his identity as the plaintiff in the 2004 case," the network said, "we are dismayed and saddened to learn of the trauma he has endured, and we commend and support the strength required to come forward."
In terms of the allegations against Schneider addressed in the documentary, a spokesperson for the 58-year-old previously told E! News Schneider cared about the welfare of the children on his show.
"He understood what they were going through and he was their biggest champion," the statement read. "The fact is many of the kids on these shows are put in the untenable position of becoming the breadwinner for their family and the pressure that comes along with that."
It continued, "Add on top of that the difficulties of growing up and having to do so under the spotlight while working a demanding job, all as a child. That is why there are many levels of standards, executives, lawyers, teachers and parents everywhere, all the time, on every set, every day. However, it is still a hard place to be a kid and nobody knew that better than Dan."
(E!, NBC News and Today are part of the NBCUniversal family.)
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
