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Full House star Candace Cameron Bure has praised the former Nickelodeon actor Drake Bell for his bravery in speaking out in Investigation Discovery’s new docu-series Quiet on Set about the alleged sexual abuse he suffered at the age of 15.
Appearing on Friday’s (12 April) episode of ABC chat show The View, former child star Bure, now 48, was asked if she had seen the bombshell documentary.
“I watched the first few episodes of it. It absolutely tore me apart. It broke my heart,” Bure said. “It’s so tragic, it’s horrific and disgusting.”
She added that she was proud of Bell, calling his ability to share his story “so brave”.
“My heart broke for his parents in trying to protect and not always seeing the signs,” said Bure, who was only five years old when she began acting.
“It’s a weird thing, the industry, growing up as a kid. I didn’t have that experience, I know the other girls from our show didn’t have that experience… but there are plenty that have. I think it was good, it’s more awareness that we can protect the next generation from that happening.”
The View co-host Joy Behar suggested that “the parents need to be around maybe”, with Bure agreeing, saying: “My parents were always around. They were so protective.”
Quiet on Set’s third episode included testimony from Bell’s father, Joe Bell, who spoke about trying to protect his son from Brian Peck, Bell’s former dialogue coach who was convicted in 2004 for his crimes against Bell and ordered to register as a sex offender.
“All the other parents would be seen and not heard,” Joe Bell said. “I would never interrupt anything, but I very rarely sat in the greenroom. I’d always be on set somewhere where I could always keep my eyes on Drake.
“Unfortunately, I started to see Brian just start to hang around Drake too much, and it didn’t sit well with me.”
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Joe recalled raising his concerns to production, claiming that they brushed him aside, and instead accused him of being homophobic.
It wasn’t long before Joe was shunned by those on the set of The Amanda Show – on which Bell starred from 1999 to 2002 – and was pushed to give up custody of Bell to his mother, whom he had divorced when Bell was five.
Years later, once Joe found out about the abuse his son had suffered at the hands of Peck, he said: “I’m not the same today. The pain is still there from the moment that I knew. I don’t wish this on any parent or child whatsoever. It’s just devastating.”
Quiet on Set is out now on Max in the US and on Discovery+ in the UK.
