In the 1991 footage, Brian, 31, refers to Leo as the “hottest, hunkiest teen idol there is.”
This article mentions allegations of child sex abuse and grooming.
Convicted sex offender Brian Peck has been in the headlines in recent weeks because of ID’s upcoming TV series Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.
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Brian is an actor and dialogue coach who was sentenced to 16 months in prison in 2004 after he pleaded no contest to two counts of child sex abuse against a then-unknown Nickelodeon child actor.
Brian was 43 years old at the time and working as a dialect coach with the 15-year-old star, with it being alleged that he was teaching the teen at his home when the offenses took place.
Brian was arrested after the boy’s parents reported him to the police, and court documents reveal that Brian was originally charged with 11 counts, including lewd act upon a child, sodomy of a person under 16, attempted sodomy of a person under 16, sexual penetration by a foreign object, four counts of oral copulation of a person under 16, oral copulation by anesthesia or controlled substance, sending harmful matter, and using a minor for sex acts.
He pleaded “no contest” to just two counts: lewd act against a child and oral copulation. While the court found him guilty of both, the remaining counts were dismissed.
Earlier this month, Drake Bell broke his silence for the upcoming docuseries, coming forward and claiming that he is the child actor who was involved in the case.
ID / Via youtube.com
Drake is best known for being one of the titular characters in the popular sitcom Drake & Josh, which premiered in 2003, but he has been acting since he was 5 years old and has also appeared in TV shows such as Home Improvement and The Amanda Show.
Brian Peck is no relation to Bell’s Drake & Josh costar Josh Peck.
While Quiet on Set will not premiere until Sunday, Variety detailed parts of Drake’s interview in an article that was published Wednesday.
There, Drake clarifies that he met Brian at the beginning of Season 2 of The Amanda Show — when he was 14 years old and Brian was 40.
Although Drake’s father, Joe Bell, was concerned about the two’s developing friendship, he ended up being “ostracized” and allegedly pushed out of his son’s life when he expressed how he felt.
Per Variety, Drake says that he would often spend the night at Brian’s house, but “everything changed with Brian one morning.”
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Drake purportedly alleges, “I was sleeping on the couch where I would usually sleep. I woke up to him — I opened my eyes, I woke up, and he was sexually assaulting me. I froze and was in complete shock and had no idea what to do or how to react, and I have no idea how to get out of this situation.
“He figured out how to convince my mom and everyone around to, anytime I would have an audition or anytime I needed to work on dialogue or anything, I somehow ended up back at Brian’s house, and it just got worse and worse and worse and worse,” Drake claims in the documentary. “I was just trapped. I had no way out.
“The abuse was extensive and it got pretty brutal,” he alleges. “I don’t know how to elaborate on that on camera, really… Why don’t you think of the worst stuff that someone could do to somebody as a sexual assault, and then I’ll answer your question. I don’t know how else to put it.”
Drake also claims that Brian would use his connections in the industry as leverage against him, and would tell him that he could stop producers from working with Drake if he did not comply.
Brian ended up being arrested after Drake’s then-girlfriend’s mother realized that something was wrong and took Drake to a therapist, which resulted in the police being contacted.
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Drake also details the “brutal” investigation and court case in the docuseries, which Boy Meets World stars Rider Strong and Will Friedle recently discussed on their podcast, Pod Meets World, where they expressed their “shame” and “guilt” for supporting Brian amid the trial.
Rider was just 16 years old when he first met Brian, Will was 19, and Brian was 37. Despite the large age gap, Rider and Will alleged that Brian infiltrated their social circles and became one of their closest friends.
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While Rider and Will were never abused by Brian themselves, family therapist Kati Morton suggested on the podcast that they were groomed and manipulated into an inappropriate friendship with him.
And this friendship led to them defending him amid the trial. Speaking on their podcast, Rider and Will both alleged that they were “misled” by Brian when he was arrested in 2003, and said that they “had no idea” about all of the counts he was initially charged with — just the two he pleaded no contest to.
Will claimed that Brian convinced him that he was the real victim in the case because he had been pursued and “worn down” by his accuser. Will poignantly added at the time, “I look back on it now, and it makes me want to cry that I was ever that naive.”
Rider was apparently told a similar story, which is why, when Brian asked him, Will, and several other actors to support him in court and write letters to the judge defending his character, they did.
Brian has not publicly acknowledged any of Rider’s, Will’s, or Drake’s recent comments about him.
And the renewed interest in his case has led to an uncomfortable clip of Brian with a young Leonardo DiCaprio resurfacing online.
While Leo, 49, is currently known as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, many forget that he actually started out as a child actor.
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Following brief appearances in a variety of TV shows from the age of 5, Leo was 15 years old when he landed his breakout role in the ’90s TV series Parenthood.
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The following year, he starred as Luke Brower in the TV series Growing Pains, which is where he worked with Brian.
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In behind-the-scenes footage from the show that was filmed in December 1991 — when Leo was 17 years old — then-31-year-old Brian can be seen interacting with Leo on set while working as a stand-in.
ABC / Via youtube.com
In the clip, Brian wraps his arm around Leo, and the two appear incredibly close as the teen jokes, “Brian is the famous artist, and we always make fun of each other and portray each other in silly, satirical ways.”
“Leo’s job on this set, for some reason, is to make fun of me all day long,” Brian says in response.
Elsewhere, Brian tells the camera, “Leo, as you know, is the latest, hottest, hunkiest teen idol there is. Look!” Gesturing up and down over Leo’s body, he adds, “Speaking of hunky, huh?”
ABC / Via youtube.com
Interestingly, Drake’s father references this footage in Quiet on Set, purportedly saying, “I saw this video of Brian Peck on Growing Pains with Leonardo DiCaprio grabbing his shoulders and running [his hand] down his arm. That’s the kind of behavior I saw him with my son. The same freaking behavior.”
ABC / Via youtube.com
The footage was also included in the 2016 documentary An Open Secret.
It’s important to note that Leo has never indicated that he was a victim of Brian’s and has not ever publicly addressed his past association with him or Brian’s legal issues. He was also not one of the actors to support Brian in court during his trial.
BuzzFeed has contacted Leo’s rep for comment.
Meanwhile, Brian has not commented on any of the recent reports surrounding him and has been working steadily in the acting world since his release from prison.