Drake Bell’s Parents Have Spoken Out About Brian Peck Too

Content warning: This article mentions sexual abuse of a minor.

In the new Investigation Discovery documentary Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, former child star Drake Bell said he was sexually abused by Brian Peck, a former Hollywood acting and dialogue coach. And his parents have spoken out about Peck, too: His dad did so in the documentary, and his mom did so in court.

“I think Brian got a sense that my dad was on the watch. And so he started to really drive a wedge between my dad and me,” Drake said in the Quiet on Set, adding that Peck told him his father was horrible for his career and was misappropriating his money, per Today. “Brian really started getting into my mom’s mind and telling her the same things he was telling me. There was never any mishandling of any funds, but it was like an army against my dad.”

Robin Dodson, Drake’s mother, is a professional pool player, Business Insider reports. Robin was selected for induction into the Women’s Professional Billiard Association Hall of Fame’s Greatest Player category in 2009, according to a press release. Nicknamed “Bankroll,” Robin won consecutive World Pool-Billiard Association championships in 1990 and 1991.

At Peck’s 2004 sentencing hearing — at which he was sentenced to 16 months in prison and registered as a sex offender in California — Robin and her husband Roy Dodson said they’d been duped into trusting him, according to The New York Times. Peck had also urged them to keep Drake away from his girlfriend, Robin added.

Joe Bell, Drake’s father, worked in construction and split from Robin when Drake was young, Business Insider reports. And in the documentary, Drake said that Peck exploited his parents’ estrangement and persuaded Robin to cut business ties with Joe, who had been Drake’s manager until that point, according to Entertainment Weekly. Drake added, per EW, that Joe then relinquished manager duties to Peck and that Peck’s abuse started thereafter.

Joe also shared his recollections in Quiet on Set, saying Peck’s behavior on set raised red flags. “You hear scuttlebutt about the business and … you got to watch your kids and this and that, so I was very attentive,” he recalled, as seen in a clip from the documentary. “And unfortunately, I started seeing Brian start to just hang around Drake too much, and it didn’t set well with me.”

He adds, “Drake would be in the dressing room or something, and in would pop Brian and just touch Drake, you know, do things that, wait a second, what are you doing? Drake can put that on himself. … Then he’d maybe walk over to Drake and be feeding him some lines or whatever and put his arm around his waist, put his hand up on his shoulder and kind of run it down his arm, and things like that. And this would happen routinely. It was just always uncomfortable.”