Former ‘Drake & Josh’ star Drake Bell has had addiction struggles following his Nickelodeon days, which he believes was because of the s-xual abuse he endured by the hands of former voice instructor Brian Peck.
While he turned to alcohol and medicines as a solution to cope, Bell is now revealing he went to rehab to get help before signing onto the brand new ‘Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV’ docuseries.
Drake Bell Turned To Alcohol & Drugs
Within the docuseries, Drake Bell said following the abuse, he had problems with drugs and alcohol. In 2016, he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after he failed a sobriety test in Glendale, California.
He was sentenced to 4 years of probation and 96 hours in jail after accepting a plea deal. Bell was also ordered to don’t have any contact with the victim.
“Right after ‘Drake & Josh’, I used to be signed, after which I released my second album,” Bell explained within the ‘Quiet On Set’ docuseries. “I made some really cool movies, but I might have stints of sobriety, after which I might, — the pressure can be an excessive amount of, and all of those demons that I had were very difficult to work through.”
Adding, “And so I believe plenty of my self-destructive behavior would at all times just be a short lived fix, and it [would] at all times creep back up. I went through this bankruptcy and lost my house. I mean, it was absolutely devastating.”
Drake Bell’s Legal Trouble
Along with the alcohol and drug issues, Bell found himself in legal trouble when an incident involving a minor, 15, in Ohio was reported.
Bell and the victim allegedly met several years prior to the reported incident online several years earlier. She also reportedly attended one among his live shows in December 2017.
In June 2021, he pleaded guilty to charges of attempted child endangerment and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles. The previous Nickelodeon actor was sentenced to 2 years of probation and community service.
Drake Bell Went To Rehab Before Filming ‘Quiet On Set’
The previous Nickelodeon star revealed that while he felt “really comfortable in that interview” with the ‘Quiet On Set’ crew, he was “going through a lot in [his] personal life and after that interview [he] ended up checking [himself] into rehab.”
“We were going through plenty of trauma therapy, plenty of group therapy, plenty of one-on-one therapy — your entire day was crammed with working through and processing this with a transparent mind, and unearthing all of this stuff that I hadn’t faced head-on, or if I had tried to, it was too painful,” Bell said on The Sarah Fraser Show podcast.
Adding, “And so through that process, once I got out, I assumed to myself, ‘Perhaps that is an excellent time to succeed in back out to them and say hey, I’m not 100% yet, let’s talk some more, but I’m getting closer to feeling comfortable with finally sharing my story’.”
Nickelodeon Responds To ‘Quiet On Set’ Allegations
Following the docuseries, Nickelodeon released a press release:“Though we cannot corroborate or negate allegations of behaviors from productions a long time ago, Nickelodeon as a matter of policy investigates all formal complaints as a part of our commitment to fostering a protected and skilled workplace environment freed from harassment or other forms of inappropriate conduct.”
The network added, “Our highest priorities are the well-being and best interests not only of our employees, casts and crew, but of all children, and we’ve adopted quite a few safeguards through the years to assist ensure we reside as much as our own high standards and the expectations of our audience.”
Drake Bell Calls Out Nickelodeon For Their Response To ‘Quiet On Set’
Along with revealing he went to rehab, Drake Bell also slammed Nickelodeon for using a “very well-tailored response.”
“[They said], ‘Learning about his trauma,’ because they couldn’t say that they didn’t find out about this or what had happened, or anything,” Bell said on the podcast of Nickelodeon’s statement. “So I believe that was a extremely well-tailored response by probably some big attorney in Hollywood.”
The previous ‘Drake & Josh’ star went on to say, “I find it pretty empty, their responses, because, I mean, they still show our shows, they still put our shows on,” he continued. “And I even have to pay for my very own therapy, I even have to work out what — I mean if there was anything, if there was any truth behind them actually caring, there can be something greater than quotes on a page by obviously a legal representative telling them exactly find out how to tailor a response.”
‘Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV’ is streaming on MAX.
