Drake Bell Shares Shocking Truth Behind Guilty Plea
Drake Bell is now coming forward to deny allegations that he groomed a teenage girl, despite his guilty plea. The news resurfaced after Bell’s revelations about being sexually abused by Nickelodeon’s Brian Peack came to light. After watching Quiet On Set, many people questioned Drake Bell’s own record of taking advantage of minors. However, he said he had a good reason for pleading guilty. Keep reading to see what it is.
Drake Bell Opens Up About His Guilty Plea
About three years ago, Drake Bell was arrested for “crimes against a child.” He was accused of grooming a teenage girl, but Bell has a different story to tell.
“I responded on some DMs and was incredibly irresponsible and got myself into conversations that I shouldn’t have had,” he said on the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast on Tuesday.
He continued, “I ended up finding out that I was talking to someone that I shouldn’t have been talking to, and it snowballed into these allegations that were not true, and it just turned into this big thing.”
In June 2021, he pled guilty to felony attempted child endangerment and misdemeanor disseminating matter harmful to juveniles. As a result, he served two years of probation.
“I had just had a son, and I didn’t want to put my family through all of this anymore,” Bell said. “I ended up going through the process the way that I did. Very regretful.”
The Nickelodeon Star Stopped Communication Immediately
The former Nickelodeon star said that he stopped talking to the unnamed minor girl as soon as he found out that she was only 15 years old. They had reportedly been communicating for three years.
“I was doing everything I could to kind of keep my distance,” he told podcast host Amanda Hirsch. “A lot of the things she said about sending inappropriate pictures and things like this, it was able to be investigated and show that none of that existed.”
The Drake & Josh star said that the allegations are absolutely not true. He pled guilty because he was “financially devastated” at the time and had no other choice.
View this post on Instagram
“There’s just so much that I’ve had to deal with, and through that, like I said, not having the tools or not knowing how to process things, I made a lot of decisions in my life that I shouldn’t have made and hurt a lot of people,” he said.
Drake Bell opened up about his own sexual abuse and trauma in the explosive docuseries Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV. He came forward to expose himself as the unnamed minor in a lawsuit against child dialogue coach Brian Peck.
Peck was convicted on 11 charges, including sodomy and a lewd act against a child. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
Quiet On Set is available to stream on Max.
- Gypsy Rose Blanchard Won’t Live With Ken After Baby Is Born - October 17, 2024
- ‘Deadliest Catch’ Fans Concerned About Captain Keith’s Health - October 17, 2024
- ‘Today’ Hoda Kotb Sobs On Air As Last Day Draws Near - October 17, 2024