Drake Bell Describes How Brian Peck Got Him Alone
Bell described Peck purposely driving a wedge between him and his manager father Joe Bell (whoalso appears in theID series and backs up his son’s account) so that he could spend more time with the teen, who had a recurring role onThe Amanda Showbefore he was offered his own sitcom,Drake & Josh, in 2004.
Peck would take him to auditions, Bell said, andthenhave him sleep over, saying it was too late to drive him back home. One night, Bell described, he woke up on the couch (where he said he always slept) and Peck was sexually assaulting him.
“I froze and was in complete shock and had no idea what to do or how to react,” Bell said, “and I had no idea how to get out of the situation.”
He recalled Peck being apologetic, but the abuse didn’t stop—and Bell said he didn’t tell anyone, not even when the mom of his then-girlfriend realizedsomethingwas wrong and took him to a therapist. He admittedly believed that if he said anything, his career would be over.
Eventually, he said he “exploded” and told his mother everything, and she immediately called police. Bell said that detectives made him give an “excruciatingly detailed” account of the abuse and then had him call Peck to prompt a confession over the phone while they listened in. Peck “just started a full-on confession,” Bell said, and was subsequently arrested on Aug. 20, 2003.