Drake Bell revealed that he wrote his 2015 song “In the End” about the sexual abuse he endured on Nickelodeon when he was 15 years old.
The Drake & Josh alum, 37, shared a TikTok video on Saturday, March 23, where he stared at the camera in silence as “In the End” played in the background.
“Wrote this song when I was 15 about what happened before I said anything to anyone,” he captioned the clip.
The lyrics read: “Wake up/ It’s time to get your things together and drive away/ Breathe out, future days will treat you better/ That’s what they say/ Another day gone without a say / But it’s okay if you turn around/ And feel the memories bringin’ you down.”
Earlier this month, the former Nickelodeon star came forward to confirm he was a victim of sexual abuse during his time as a child actor ahead of the Investigation Discovery series Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.
“The clip reveals that former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell will be sharing publicly, for the first time, the story of the abuse he suffered at the hands of Brian Peck,” Investigation Discovery announced via Instagram. “His former dialogue coach who was convicted in 2004 for his crimes against Drake and ordered to register as a sex offender.”
Peck served as a dialogue coach on All That and The Amanda Show. Bell starred in the latter show from 1999 to 2002 before launching Drake & Josh in 2004.
Quiet on Set, which aired March 17 and 18, explored the tumultuous era under producer Dan Schneider‘s leadership at the network. Schneider, 58, founder and copresident of Schneider’s Bakery production company, was instrumental in shaping popular shows of the late ’90s and early 2000s, including All That, Drake & Josh, iCarly, Sam & Cat, The Amanda Show, Victorious and Zoey 101. Schneider worked closely with Peck.
“Everything changed with Brian one morning,” Bell said in the docuseries. “I knew that my life was going to be absolutely completely different from that point on. t just became this secret that I had held onto.”
Bell referred to the abuse as “extensive” and “brutal” during an emotional point in the doc. “I really don’t know how to elaborate on that on camera. … Why don’t you think of the worst stuff someone can do to somebody as a sexual assault and that will answer your question,” he said.” I don’t know how else to put it. It was not a one-time thing.”
On Friday, March 22, Bell spoke out for the first time since the docuseries’ release in a new episode of “The Sarah Fraser Show” podcast, expressing disappointment in Nickelodeon’s “pretty empty” response.
“There’s a very well-tailored response saying, ‘Learning about his trauma,’ because they couldn’t say that they didn’t know about this or what had happened, or anything,” he said. “So I think that was a really well-tailored response by probably some big attorney in Hollywood.”
Bell went on to say that the network continues to make money off “our shows,” adding, “and I have to pay for my own therapy, I have to figure out what — I mean if there was anything, if there was any truth behind them actually caring, there would be something more than quotes on a page by obviously a legal representative telling them exactly how to tailor a response.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
