Drake Bell Admits He Spoke Out About His Childhood Trauma on 'Quiet on Set' for His 3-Year-Old Son

Drake Bell confessed that his 3-year-old son, Jeremy, played a major role in his decision to come forward with his story of being sexually abused as a child while working for Nickelodeon.

During his bombshell appearances on Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, the Drake and Josh star revealed he'd been groomed and sexually assaulted by acting coach Brian Peck.

"Imagine the worst thing someone could do to someone as sexual assault," he told the cameras in one of the episodes. "I don’t know how else to put it."

On his Monday, May 20, appearance on the Today show, Bell shared he came to the conclusion that some of his decisions he's faced with are "no longer for myself" after the birth of his son he shares with ex-wife Janet Von Schmeling.

"I had just been going through so much and things were spiraling out of control personally and mentally," he explained. "I finally found myself saying, ‘There’s two roads you can take here.'"

"I’d just had a son. And what’s the story that he’s going to get?" he recalled wondering to himself. "Is somebody else going to tell him my story, or am I going to be around to tell him and share my story? So, I knew something had to change."

Bell also remembered a tender moment that occurred on his child's third birthday party when the young boy was playing with temporary tattoos with cartoon characters on them. As the little boy was covering his arms with them — while the father-of-one's own tattoos were on display — he said "Look Dada, I want to be just like you.’"

The Nickelodeon alum admitted, "I don’t think so much that I wanted my son to be proud of me, but not wanting someone else to have to tell him about his father. I could’ve either allowed this to destroy me or make me stronger for him."

Bell also reflected on his desires for their future relationship as his son grows up hearing other people's opinions on the situation. "My hope is that he’ll be able to say, ‘Yeah, my dad did go through that. Yeah, that did happen to my dad. Yeah, my dad did do that. But the man I’ve known my whole life and the man that I know today is a hero to me. And the fact that he’s been able to get through those things has helped me be able to face the world and not let it tear me down.'"

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Today reported Bell's comments.