The woman who played Drake Bell‘s mom on the Nick show Drake & Josh is expressing sadness over his abuse claims at the hand of former dialogue coach Brian Peck.
Nancy Sullivan, who played Audrey Parker-Nichols in the comedy from 2004-07, wrote on Instagram about how it “broke my heart into a million pieces to hear just how much Drake was holding inside while we were working together.”
Bell worked with Brian Peck on Nickelodeon’s The Amanda Show from 1999-2002 before he went on to co-star opposite Sullivan and Josh Peck in Drake & Josh.
“I was both devastated and proud seeing the man he’s grown into sit down on camera and bravely tell his truth,” wrote Sullivan. “Past abuse doesn’t define us, and it has no right to rule our lives, I know that putting this burden down will free him in so many ways. I hope memories of the joy he had on our shows will someday greatly overshadow the pain. Sending love to Drake for a deep healing and for a rich and beautiful life ahead.”
Bell appeared in the Investigation Discovery docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. He sharing publicly, for the first time, the abuse he suffered at the hands of Brian Peck.
Brian Peck was convicted in 2004 for his crimes against Drake and ordered to register as a sex offender.
Quiet on Set was billed as uncovering “the toxic and dangerous culture behind some of the most iconic children’s shows of the late 1990s and early 2000s.”