Drake Bell Reveals He Tried to 'Self-Medicate and Disappear' in His 20s and 30s

Drake Bell revealed that his 20s and 30s were an "emotional rollercoaster" that led to him trying to "self-medicate and just disappear."

However, that all changed when he started to go to group therapy in an attempt to come to terms with his trauma and subsequent mental health issues.

"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,'" he said of his tragic history of being groomed and sexually assaulted by acting coach Brian Peck as a teenager. "Then you get into a group setting like that and share your story and it feels so good to get it out."

Bell also shared that some of his memories had been "locked inside and pushed down" to the point that he forgot them until exploring them more in therapy.

"You realize the more you hold these emotions in, they affect everything and everyone around you," he continued.

The Drake and Josh star also spoke about his ongoing recovery from substance abuse. He called staying sober a "very difficult thing," but admitted it's given him 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," he added.

As OK! previously reported, Bell revealed details of the horrible abuse he suffered as a child working for Nickelodeon during his appearances on Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.

"Imagine the worst thing someone could do to someone as sexual assault," he said at the time. "I don’t know how else to put it."

He later confessed that he chose to be a part of the bombshell docuseries for his his 3-year-old son, Jeremy.

"I had just been going through so much and things were spiraling out of control personally and mentally. I finally found myself saying, ‘There’s two roads you can take here,'" he said. "Is somebody else going to tell him my story, or am I going to be around to tell him and share my story?"

"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," the musician recalled. "I could’ve either allowed this to destroy me or make me stronger for him."