Boy Meets World stars discuss being groomed by guest actor, Brian Peck
In a recent podcast episode, Rider Strong and Will Friedle broke down their friendship with Peck, who was convicted of sexually abusing a child in 2004
Former Boy Meets World stars Will Friedle, Rider Strong, and Danielle Fishel recently took some time away from recapping the beloved ‘90s sitcom to address a larger conversation happening right now about the ethics of child-led shows. Likely inspired by the upcoming docuseries Quiet On Set, which explores allegations of sexual abuse and grooming at Nickelodeon, Friedle, Strong, and Fishel were joined by a family therapist on the latest episode of Pod Meets World to discuss their relationship with season five guest star Brian Peck. In 2004, six years after the season aired, Peck was convicted of sexually abusing an unnamed Nickelodeon actor and spent 16 months in prison (via Variety).
In the episode, Friedle and Strong said that Peck quickly “ingratiated himself” into their lives and they hung out with him “all the time” outside of work, despite the fact that Peck is nearly 20 years older than them. Unlike other guest stars on the show, Fishel explained that Peck had very few boundaries with the young actors. “All the years of having stand-ins, no one ever, do I remember, regularly went to lunch with the cast members. But this person did and part of that’s because, when they arrived on set, they were extremely charming,” she explained. “They also… knew other, very successful, famous kids and young men and regularly talked about them.”
While Fishel said she never heard from Peck after the show ended in 2000, the actor (then 39) remained close with Strong and Friedle (20 and 23 respectively) until he was accused of assault in 2003. Upon learning of the allegations, Peck allegedly called Friedle crying and “instantly spinning it to where it wasn’t his fault, it was clearly the fault of his victim.” Friedle, who had just finished filming a role secured for him by Peck, initially believed his friend’s angle that he was the one being manipulated by the much younger actor. “My instinct initially was, ‘My friend, this can’t be. It’s gotta be the other person’s fault.’ The story makes complete sense the way that he’s saying it,” he said.
Friedle and Strong say neither of them knew how serious the case was at the time (“Back then, you couldn’t Google to find out what people were being charged with.”), and took Peck up on his request for the two men to support him in court. “We’re sitting in that courtroom on the wrong side of everything… The victim’s mother turned and said, ‘Look at all the famous people you brought with you. And it doesn’t change what you did to my kid,’” Friedle recalled. Peck was convicted of a lewd act against a child and oral copulation of a person under 16. “I just sat there wanting to die. It was like, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ It was horrifying all the way around.”
That’s a feeling Friedle, who even wrote a letter to the judge in Peck’s defense at the time, still carries with him today. “There’s an actual victim here. And he turned us against the victim to where now we’re on his team. That’s the thing where, to me, I look back at that as my ever-loving shame for this entire [thing],” he said. “Getting taken in by somebody who’s a good actor and a manipulator, I could chalk that up to being young and that’s the way it is. It’s awful. I’m going to use that for my growth as a human being, but when there’s an actual victim involved and now I’m on the abuser’s side, that’s the thing I can’t get over and haven’t been able to get over.”
If you or someone you know is suffering from sexual abuse, contact the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or go to rainn.org.