Every day I got there, the monster was there": Drake Bell discusses working with a convicted child s*xual abuser alongside Josh Peck

Drake & Josh star Drake Bell is reuniting with co-star Josh Peck to open up about having to work alongside convicted dialogue coach Brian Peck.

Bell, who worked with both on the Nickelodeon kids’ TV show, divulged that the "worst part" of his day was when he had to work with Brian, who was convicted of s*xually assaulting him in 2004. Speaking on an episode of Dear Media’s Good Guys podcast, he told his former co-star:

“Where I felt most comfortable, where I was the happiest was when I was on set with you guys. And the worst part was every day I got there, the monster was there, you know?”

Josh Peck expresses his anger at all those who backed Drake Bell's convicted abuser in court: Read more

Drake Bell's revelations come on the heels of the high-profile documentary series, Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, which explores his allegations against The Amanda Show dialogue coach. In the documentary, he outlined how he was abused by Brian when he was 15 years old and had to engage in the investigation that ultimately culminated in Brian’s 2004 conviction.

During the podcast episode, Josh told Drake Bell that he “can’t even imagine” what he must have endured as a child after watching the Investigation Discovery documentary.

“I didn’t know any of this at 14, and in watching the documentary, at 38, as a father, as a grown-up, so much was revealed to me,” Josh said of the series. “It’s only in watching the doc that I can realize that just him being put to justice, which thank God he was, and deserved, and deserved to go longer, but like, what about you? What about the trauma you endured? It’s so much; it’s so much deeper. It’s so much more unacceptable. It’s not this clean. Well, he went to jail, so everyone’s all better,” he said at another point.

Reflecting on the moment he learned that Brian would be arrested, he said:

“And I remember, I think it was months after this, I got a text from someone who worked on the show saying, Brian’s arrested. He’s going to jail. And I think through my simple teenager mind, I just thought, ‘Oh, thank God. Thank God. He’s going to jail. Good.’”

Drake Bell then divulged to his former co-star that while they were filming the Drake & Josh pilot, investigations were already well underway.

“I had to come back to working with my partner going, ‘I’ve got all this stuff that nobody knows about that’s going on. Is this going to hurt our show? When this drops, is Josh going to look at me and be like, Bro, you took our dream away. Are we going to lose our show?'” Bell noted.

Brian Peck was accused of molesting a child back in 2003, and the following year, he was convicted, forcing him to spend 16 months behind bars. During Monday's podcast segment, Bell recounted the time he had to sit through a trial filled with supporters of Brian Peck:

“It was hard, I think, during that time because when we went to court, the entire side of his courtroom was full of people who I thought were my friends and people who I looked up to, people whose careers I would like mine to be one day, and I’m on the side … it was me and my mom,” Drake Bell recounted.

Josh Peck expressed anger at all of the Hollywood stars who backed Drake Bell’s convicted abuser in open court:

“For you to find these 41 letters that they discovered of people who were sort of writing basically they were, like, they were character witnesses of Brian’s, right? Like, defending him … It’s f*cking bonkers, insane.”

The second part of Bell's interview with Josh Peck is slated to come out on Thursday. It coincides with the release of his latest album, Non-Stop Flight.

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