While reflecting on his years as a child star, Drake Bell revealed that he was sexually abused by a speech coach.
In the new documentary Silence on the set: The dark side of children’s television, The former Nickelodeon star opened up about the abuse she suffered at the hands of speech coach Brian Pack.
“Hearing that Brian Peck was a sexual predator immediately made me wonder who was being hurt,” Drake Bell explained. His Nickelodeon co-star Giovonnie Samuels chimed in, saying, “I have no idea who he is, when it happened, where it happened.”
That’s when Bell appeared to share his story about the interactions he had with Peck. The dialogue coach worked on the hit Nickelodeon sketch series. Amanda’s show, a series that Bell starred in.
Peck was arrested in 2003 on charges of lewd act on a child and oral copulation of a person under 16 years of age. A year later, he was convicted of sexually abusing an unknown Nickelodeon child star. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
Drake Bell was reportedly the minor in the case. He later starred in his own Nickelodeon series, Drake and Joshfrom 2004 to 2007.
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Weeks before Drake Bell shared his story for the Silence on the set: The dark side of children’s television documentary film, The boy knows the world Stars Rider Strong and Will Friedle opened up about their interaction with Brian Peck.
“I didn’t really go to parties,” Friedle explained at the time. “I didn’t really do those things. But I was working a lot later The boy meets the world. And this guy had ingratiated himself so much into my life that I took him to three shows later. The boy knows the world.“
Peck introduced himself to the cast as a cool, fun guy. However, Friedle noted that he had no limits. Friedle recalled that Peck called him after his arrest in 2003.
“[He was] instantly turning him to where it was not his fault, it was clearly his victim’s fault,” Friedle stated. “My instinct initially was: ‘My friend, this cannot be. It has to be the other person’s fault. The story makes a lot of sense because of the way it is told.”
Strong and Friedle write a letter to the judge defending Peck. They also appeared in court to support him.
“There is a real victim here,” Friedle added. “And he turned us against the victim to where we are now on his team. Being fooled by someone who is a good actor and a manipulator, I could attribute it to my youth and that’s just how it is. It is awful.”
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn