Joyann Jeffrey
·4 min read
Josh Peck is getting candid about his fallout with Drake Bell.
During a recent appearance on Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards' podcast "BFFs," Peck opened up about his former friendship with the actor and revealed how they lost touch after "Drake & Josh."
The two starred in the Nickelodeon show as each other's stepbrothers from 2004 to 2007, and much like their characters, who were polar opposites, Peck explained that they actually had different interests in real life.
"We were kids, right? Obviously, there were times when we were closer than not, but when inevitably the show ended — I mean, we're just totally different kids," he said. "I say in my book, 'I was like this kid from New York who was into the Beastie Boys, and he was a kid from Orange County who was into the Beach Boys,' like it was just different people."
Peck then compared his time on "Drake & Josh" to Billy Joel's music career. He said that he relates to how the singer refuses to perform his hit song, "Uptown Girl," even though he's known for it.
"'Drake & Josh' is something I'll be synonymous with forever and I'm proud of it," he said. "And I want to like the guy that my name is attached to forever, but unfortunately, it just sort of worked out the way that it did."
Since he and Bell lost touch, Peck said he didn't feel the need to invite Bell to his 2017 wedding with longtime girlfriend Paige O’Brien.
Although he thought it wouldn't be a big deal since he was sure that Bell would do the same thing to him, Peck was proven wrong when Bell ended up angrily texting him on his wedding day and later voiced his concerns on social media.
According to E! News, Bell tweeted, “When you’re not invited to the wedding the message is clear."
He also said, “Loyalty is key. ALWAYS remember where you came from.”
Although Bell shortly deleted both of those tweets, Peck couldn't get over the drama that Bell caused online.
"The dirty little secret, I guess, was that I knew that Drake and I didn't stay in touch for the 10 years since we had made the show. But no one needed to know that," he shared. "I was happy to just die with that secret that we made this thing that people really love, but maybe we weren't that close."
"So I didn't invite him to my wedding because I hadn't really talked to him in many, many years," Peck continued. "Cut to: I'm getting married that night and I see these text messages from him cursing me out, coming for me on the night of my wedding. And I'm like, 'Yo.' And it's delusional because I'm like, 'Bro, we worked at Coffee Bean when we were 16. I'm sorry, I'm 31 now. I might've lost your number.'"
Peck noted that he felt worse about the situation when Bell posted those tweets and later went on a "press tour about how heartbroken" he was. Every time he did an interview, Peck felt like his former co-star was "creating a narrative" that just simply wasn't true.
TODAY has reached out to Bell for comment on the incident.
Ultimately, people started to harass Peck's wife on social media and that was when the "iCarly" actor couldn't take it anymore.
He said he confronted Bell a month later when they both ran into each other at the MTV Video Music Awards.
"I go up to him and this might be the most 'Sopranos' thing I've ever done," he said. "I look at him and I go, 'Go apologize to my wife right now.' And he goes, 'OK.' And he made a beeline for my wife and I see him do this whole five-minute performance of an apology."
At the end of the night, Peck was proud that he stood up to Bell and got his wife the apology that she deserved.
"It was one of the few times in my life where I think I went blind," he said. "My emotions put me right to that place."
But even though all that is said and done, Peck said that he wouldn't consider him and Bell friends.
"Not really. No," he said.