Drake Bell and fellow Nickelodeon alums defend child star parents

At a recent panel event following a screening of Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV, Drake Bell and All That alums Giovonnie Samuels and Bryan Hearne addressed criticism of the parents of child stars, who ostensibly didn’t protect their children from the “dark side” that the docuseries covered. “We hear a lot ‘Where were their parents? If I was there—where were their parents?’” Bell said (via Entertainment Weekly). “And you have to understand — we’re kids. Some of these were our first jobs. Some of these were our parents’ first time on a set, and they’re just learning along with us.”

Bell (who was convicted of inappropriate conduct with a minor himself) argued that instead of making it the parents’ sole responsibility to navigate an unfamiliar environment, “there should be somebody who’s experienced that can see, oh you know what, this child seems uncomfortable, I’m gonna be able to take him or her with their parent and bring them over here, ‘Do you feel comfortable doing this?’” He continued, “To say ‘Oh it’s the parents’ responsibility’—they’re just learning along with us and don’t have the experience on these movie sets to be able to push and pull their weight.”

Bell’s mother took particular heat in the wake of Quiet On Set. The docuseries described how Bell’s abuser Brian Peck came between the actor and his father, convincing Bell to drop his dad as his manager. Peck then manipulated Bell’s mother into allowing Peck to be alone with the teen star, which ultimately led to horrific sexual abuse. But in the follow-up episode “Breaking The Silence,” Bell said viewers should take it easy on his mom, noting that Peck’s actions were calculated and he knew just what to say to win adults over. “I completely understand how he just pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes,” Bell shared. “It’s tragic.”

Hearne, whose relationship with his mother was also a focal point of Quiet On Set, expressed similar sentiments. “I don’t think it’s on the parents,” he said at the panel. “I think that it’s important that there are people on set…who are tasked to give care and caretake to the emotions of the children on set. That’s the most important thing. The parents can only do so much.”

In fact, the outspoken nature of Hearne’s mother on set caused strife for the pair. In the docuseries, he described not telling his mom about certain violations (like working overtime) so that she wouldn’t interfere and cause trouble for his career. When he was fired from the show, he blamed her, causing a rupture in their relationship that wouldn’t be repaired for many years. In “Breaking The Silence,” the mother-son duo shared that participating in Quiet On Set was healing for their relationship, helping both of them to pinpoint when his resentment and the estrangement began. (Though Hearne clarified at the panel that their relationship was “on again, off again, on again, off again” in the years after All That. “Right now we’re on again, and it feels permanent, and that’s really good.”)

So if a parental figure on set isn’t the solution, what is? “It needs to be somebody that’s not just production. You need a liaison between production and parent and child.” Samuels suggested. “There is a program called Looking Ahead and it’s with the Entertainment [Community] Fund. It’s a program that you have to opt into. It’s not advertised. I just found about this and they just literally had their 20th anniversary gala for helping do the very thing that we said needed to be done on set.”

“Hollywood is a beautiful place, full of fantasy and imagination and fun. But it’s also a completely dark cesspool of disgusting waste,” Bell said at the panel (via Deadline). “I’m hoping that we see shifts and changes inside the industry that are needed.”