‘Life and Me’ actors apologize for defending sex offender who targeted Drake Bell

Former ‘Life and Me’ actors Will Friedle and Rider Strong reveal the details of their apology to Drake Bell after expressing their support in court for the man who sexually abused Bell in the early 2000s.

The issue came back into the public eye after the documentary series “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” aired in March, which shed light on the abuse Bell suffered at the hands of Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck.

In 2004, Peck was convicted of sexually abusing an unnamed Nickelodeon child star and later served 16 months in prison. During the trial, Friedle and Strong wrote letters of support vouching for Peck’s character.

“I’m sitting in the back of the courtroom. There’s no social media. I’m 26 years old at the time. I don’t watch Nickelodeon. I don’t know who Drake Bell is. I see a boy walk into the courtroom and think to myself, ‘OK, I’ve been lied to.’ I know that automatically,” Friedle said in Thursday’s episode of his podcast “Pod Meets World,” describing his experiences in the trial.

Friedle added that Peck falsely told him and Strong that the victim was almost 18 years old and that the abuse was an isolated incident.

After the first episodes of the series “Quiet on Set” aired, Friedle and Strong apologized to Bell, who later described their conversation as “the most amazing conversation.”

“Talking to Drake was incredible… horrible… healing, for a number of reasons,” Friedle said on the podcast Thursday. “He started the conversation by saying to me, ‘Before you say a word, I want you to know that I love you and forgive you.'”

Friedle also said he made it clear to Bell that he did not recognize him in the courtroom and therefore did not think to bring up the subject when the two worked together on the “Ultimate Spider-Man” series about a decade later.

“We both talked about how happy we were that it happened because we had the best day of our lives working together,” Friedle said. “From that day on in that courtroom, all I wanted to do was apologize to everyone that was there. The idea that I later found out he was standing in front of me and I didn’t have that (chance) was crazy.”

Strong said on the podcast Thursday that he was “so full of regret and shame” after watching the docuseries, adding, “There’s really no excuse” for believing Peck’s version of the story and choosing to support him.