Music offered a vital outlet for Drake Bell to work via his childhood trauma as a youngster — even when he wasn’t conscious of it on the time.
Bell, 37, got here ahead final month because the beforehand unnamed sufferer of Brian Peck’s sexual abuse throughout his time as a baby actor on Nickelodeon. Bell detailed the abuse — which led to the previous dialogue coach to be sentenced to 16 months in jail jail in 2004 — on the Investigation Discovery sequence Quiet on Set: The Darkish Facet of Children TV.
The revelation has led followers to comb via Bell’s discography, together with his 2005 debut album, Telegraph, which Bell wrote at 15 years outdated within the midst of Peck’s abuse.
“Quite a lot of my followers are going again to my first album, which I truly wrote and produced and launched whereas I used to be going via it, after I was about 15 years outdated, whereas I used to be within the thick of all of that,” Bell informed Kevin Quinn and Justin Crawford on the Wednesday, Could 1, episode of their “Luminosity” podcast. “[The fans are] realizing, ‘Oh, my God, he’s been screaming from the mountaintops [about the abuse].’”
Investigation Discovery/YouTube Quiet on Set: The Darkish Facet of Children TV offers former little one stars and crew members the chance to talk out about their detrimental experiences at Nickelodeon. Investigation Discovery’s docuseries, which can air on Sunday, March 17, and Monday, March 18, focuses particularly on producer Dan Schneider’s notorious reign on the community. Schneider, […]
Bell continued: “[Music] was my journal on the time. That was how I obtained via it. I’d get within the studio and be fully shattered, damaged and I had a superb pal I used to be writing music with on the time and I’d are available in and be like, ‘Alright, that is what we’re writing about right this moment. I’ve obtained to get this out. That is what’s happening in life.’”
Drake Bell and Josh Peck pose at Nickelodeon’s 2004 Children’ Alternative Awards Frank Micelotta/Getty Photos
Bell rose to a brand new stage of fame when he was forged on the Dan Schneider–helmed Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh, reverse Josh Peck (no relation to Brian). The present’s theme track, “I Discovered a Manner,” was written and carried out by Bell in 2003 — and the actor says the track’s lyrics converse to what he was going via on the time and offered a manner for him to persevere.
“[I got] a variety of what I used to be coping with out via my songs,” Bell stated on the podcast, happening to recite the refrain of the theme track: “It’s gonna take a while to realign / However in the event you look inside I’m certain you’ll discover … Nobody can break what’s so unbreakable / I discovered a manner, I discovered a manner.”
By means of writing the lyrics to “I Discovered a Manner,” Bell despatched a message to not solely his followers but in addition himself.
“I believe kind of subconsciously, I used to be attempting to inform myself, ‘You tried to interrupt me, however I’m unbreakable,’” he stated. “In the event you truly look inside and see who you really are and know who you might be, then you definitely’re going to discover a manner out. You’re going to discover a manner via it. And so I discovered a manner.”
Bell has continued to make use of music as a type of remedy to today. His current launch, “I Type of Relate,” and its accompanying music video tackle the abuse he endured as a baby actor and the way he has coped with it ever since.
“The brand new track I simply put out referred to as ‘I Type of Relate’ talks about my abuse, my substance abuse, my childhood trauma, my automobile accident, a variety of issues in my life,” Bell stated. “It’s a nice type of remedy to have the ability to have some outlet, whether or not you’re writing the songs or whether or not you’re discovering the songs that talk to you.”
