Drake Bell Says He and Former Costar Josh Peck Were Dealing With 'a Lot of S---' While Working Together as They Reunite for Podcast

Drake Bell and Josh Peck appeared together on Peck’s “Good Guys” podcast on March 24, where Bell addressed the falling out the two had prior to reuniting recently.

“I have my perspective,” Bell, shared, “Especially because we were going through this, like, during our adolescence and when we were changing and learning. It’s going to be interesting to see what my perspective was and what your perspective was and if they align at all. I would say there were times when we hung out a lot and we were close and then there were times when — not for any reason — but just we weren’t.”

He added there were “times” they “might not have been getting along,” but noted they were “dealing with a lot of s---" outside of working together.

One of the things Peck was dealing with was the abuse he was suffering at the hands of their former dialogue coach, Brian Peck, which was explored in the documentary Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.

Drake explained the break between filming The Amanda Show and Drake & Josh is when he told his mother what was happening. “We went to the police,” he shared. “The investigation. All of the stuff that you saw in the documentary. That was when all of that was going on. And then when we shot the pilot, we were in the middle of the investigation, but nobody knew anything because Brian hadn’t been arrested.” Drake said coming back from The Amanda Show — “where the abuse was happening” — was “the worst part" for him, as it was akin to “having the monster in your safe place.”

Josh noted Brian was suddenly “gone,” and he “didn’t know anything” other than having a “feeling something happened" between the two of them.

“I remember we’re in the car,” Josh detailed. “It was you, me and Jill. And I said, ‘You still talk to Brian?' And you just looked at me like, ‘No. Brian’s a really bad guy.’ And I remember thinking, gotcha.”

Months after, Josh got a text from someone who worked on their show, telling him Brian had been arrested. “I think through my simple teenager mind I just thought, ‘Thank God,’” he shared. “He’s going to jail. Good.” “I was sleeping on the couch where I would usually sleep,” Drake said in the documentary, noting he’d slept over Brian’s house before, where bad things happened. “I woke up to him — I opened my eyes, I woke up and he was sexually assaulting me. I froze and was in complete shock and had no idea what to do or how to react, and I have no idea how to get out of this situation.”

Drake, who was 15 at the time, wasn’t sure what to do because he knew people would become inquisitive if he suddenly stopped going to Brian’s house. He said Brian was “so apologetic” and claimed it wouldn’t happen again — but that wasn’t what played out.

“He figured out how to convince my mom and everyone around to, anytime I would have an audition or anytime I needed to work on dialogue or anything, I somehow ended up back at Brian’s house and it just got worse and worse and worse and worse. I was just trapped. I had no way out,” he elaborated. “The abuse was extensive and it got pretty brutal. I don’t know how to elaborate on that on camera, really… Why don’t you think of the worst stuff that someone could do to somebody as a sexual assault, and then I’ll answer your question. I don’t know how else to put it.”