Nickelodeon Accuser Reveals What Made Him Finally Speak Out

In his first major public appearance since the premiere of ID’s Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, Drake Bell opened up about “being in the fire” after sharing his story of sexual abuse for the first time.

Bell appeared at an FYC screening of the docuseries in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, which was followed by a panel discussion that included Bell, All That alums Bryan Hearne and Giovonnie Samuels, and Quiet on Set filmmakers Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz. During the discussion, Bell was asked how he knew it was the right time to come forward about the repeated sexual abuse he survived as a teenager at the hands of Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck.

“Oh, I didn’t know,” Bell began, before revealing that he had been approached by another documentary years ago that he ultimately turned down. At the time, he said, “I just was not in a place where I wanted to talk about this or put it out into the world or anything. So I expressed that, and the response was unbelievable. I mean, they wrote back to me saying, ‘Because of people like you, there are going to be more children hurt in the industry. You need to speak out, otherwise this is going to continue.’ I was like, did you really just say that to me? I was just shocked. So when Emma reached out, I was very on guard. I was going, I know how this goes. I’ve been there. I was totally going to ignore it.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.