Drake Bell was able to open up about being a victim of sexual abuse after finding sobriety.
Drake Bell has been sober since 2023
The 38-year-old actor appeared in the recent documentary ‘Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV’ where he opened up on the “extensive and brutal” abuse he suffered at the hands of Nickelodeon dialect coach when he was a teen star on the network and admitted that he had developed a “completely different perspective” on things after giving up alcohol almost a year ago.
He told Us Weekly: “Recovery is a very difficult thing, especially when you’ve been stricken with [substance abuse] for so many years. But when I started talking about my story sober and clear-headed, it’s a completely different perspective on everything.
“The hurt and pain start to get lifted [and] all of this stuff becomes a part of your past.
“You realize the more you hold those emotions in, they affect everything and everyone around you.
“Now that my story is out, it’s so much easier to go, ‘OK, I tripped and fell there. I could have done it differently, but if I had done it differently, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
The former ‘Drake and Josh’ star – who first appeared on Nick alongside Amanda Bynes in ‘The Amanda Show’ and later joined forces with Josh Peck (no relation to Brian) for their own sitcom in 2004 – noted that he used to think he was “alone” following his years of trauma but has actually felt “so good” in himself since speaking out.
He added: “It’s an incredible thing. You go through life thinking, ‘I’m alone in this, this is something I have to keep inside. I’m gonna be judged for it.’ Then you get into a group setting like that and share your story and it feels so good to get it out.”
The ‘I Kind of Relate’ singer has two-year-old son Wyatt with his ex-wife Janet Von Schmeling recently admitted that he would struggle with the idea of putting him into showbiz because of his own trauma but is also aware that performing has always been his own natural passion.
He told Access Hollywood: “That’s a that’s a difficult question. Because knowing what I know about the industry and having the experience that I’ve had, it’s difficult because it’s all I’ve known. And it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I wanted to be an entertainer from as long as as far back as I can remember, I would watch Lucille Ball, the Marx Brothers and Costello, Elvis, The Beatles, and that’s what I wanted to do.
“And so it’s difficult to say, ‘Ah, well, there are some dangers in this’ because it’s what I experienced is, is not singular to Hollywood. It’s in school, it’s sports, it’s, you know, so you really just have to be careful and be on guard and be very protective, overly protective.”
In 2004, Peck pleaded no contest to a charge of oral copulation with a minor under 16 as well as a charge of performing a lewd act with a 14 or 15-year-old. Bell was the plaintiff but his identity as the victim was not made public at the time.
Peck spent 16 months in prison and was mandated to register as a sex offender.
Recalling the abuse, Bell said: “Brian and I became really close because we had a lot of the same interests, which looking back, I think that was probably a little calculated.”
