Two gruesome injuries, a disappointing foray into the music business,
disturbing legal issues… and he didn't even get invited to Josh's wedding!
Here are the most tragic details about Drake from "Drake and Josh".
Drake Bell is the son of Robin Dodson, a pro pool player who has won the World Championships.
While she may be a pool hall of famer now, Dodson's life was previously blighted by tragedy,
which in turn affected her children. After divorcing her first husband,
she married Robert Bell, and they welcomed son Drake in 1986.
However, this marriage also ended in divorce when Drake was just 5 years old.
Speaking with "No Jumper" in 2018, Bell admitted that his interest in acting was
born from his parents' divorce, as he entertained his jaded elders with Jerry Lewis impressions.
"So I'd like try and impersonate them and my dad
was like 'Dude maybe my kid's more into - maybe he should get into show business or something.'"
In an interview with the Grammys, he revealed that he didn't get to
spend much time with his mom when he was growing up, since she was always too busy
with work. But this wasn't the only struggle that the Bell family faced.
As detailed by the Los Angeles Times, Dodson has been open about her issues with heroin addiction
and multiple arrests. However, she got clean, and her turbulent past led to her
developing immense empathy for children with emotional difficulties. She told WCF Courier -
"My heart is with troubled kids. I can say, 'I know where you're coming from' and mean it."
According to E!, Drake Bell dated YouTuber Stevie Ryan from 2005 to 2006.
Ryan was best known for her VH1 series "Stevie TV," in which she rose to fame
and developed a loyal fanbase by exhibiting her rib-tickling take on celeb impersonations.
Tragically, Ryan took her own life in 2017, aged just 33.
Bell was devastated by his ex-girlfriend's death, posting a series of stream-of-consciousness tweets
expressing his heartache. Speaking with People, Bell confessed that he was in disbelief following
the death of his former flame. Reflecting on their brief but apparently loving relationship,
he heaped heavy praise on Ryan's impression skills and fashion sense, gushing -
"She had the coolest style of any girl I'd ever met. She had it."
Following the tragedy, an inquest found that Ryan's partner at the time of her death,
nurse Gerald Baltz, may have played a role in her suicide,
as he had reportedly been prescribing Ryan psychiatric drugs before her passing.
In 2005, while hot off the ongoing success of "Drake and Josh," Drake Bell was almost
killed in a terrifying car crash. According to the New York Post, he was driving along the
Pacific Coast Highway when he was involved in a head-on collision with a Mercedes.
It is believed that the driver of the Mercedes had dozed off at the wheel. According to E!, Bell
suffered numerous injuries to his head and face and had to undergo facial reconstructive surgery.
Bell recalled that fateful day in a 2006 chat with People, saying -
"I'm spitting teeth out of my mouth. […] I broke my jaw in three places.
A whole part fell into my mouth!"
In an interview with Artisan News Service, he said that his jaw was wired shut for three months
and he was unable to eat solid foods, all the while fearing whether he would
be the same person afterwards. Bell also revealed that the accident
inspired him to start writing songs again. With a new lease on life following his recovery,
surviving the injuries led to him injecting newfound positivity into his music, saying -
"Stop and smell the flowers, 'cause it can all just be taken away like that."
On both "The Amanda Show"
and "Drake and Josh," it was not uncommon for Drake Bell to
grab his guitar and start performing rock songs at any given opportunity.
So it came as little surprise when Bell decided to make the transition from acting to music.
"I just wanted to be Elvis you know, growing up I-I-I would see Elvis and I'd see The Who and
The Beatles and I was like that's it, that's it."
But even with hordes of teenage fans, it wasn't the smoothest career change.
Speaking with Gibson, Bell suggested that drawing in a young demographic accustomed to autotune and
lip-syncing may have been responsible for his lack of success as a musician.
Accordingly, he admitted to being more than a little disappointed that his album sales
had been poor. While Bell's 2006 sophomore album "It's Only Time"
sold tens of thousands of copies, his follow-up "Ready Steady Go!" was far less successful.
Bell's waning stardom culminated in a heated display at one of his concerts in 2017.
According to TMZ, while performing at Northwest School of the Arts,
high schoolers began throwing balls on stage. Bell got royally peeved and began throwing the balls
back at the crowd, culminating in him stopping the music and threatening to cut the gig short.
In 2014, Drake Bell
was a mere 27 years old, yet he was on the verge of losing everything. According to TMZ,
he had no choice but to file for bankruptcy, having earned a meager $14,099 the previous year,
while also owing a significant amount of dough in unpaid back taxes. On the brink of total financial
ruin, he faced foreclosure on his house. According to Dirt, as a result of his financial troubles,
he had to sell his Los Feliz pad for around $1.5 million. As reported by the Los Angeles Times,
the home was confiscated by Union Bank, who put the property up for sale.
These monetary problems marked a particular low point in Bell's life and career.
The year he lost his home, Bell gave an interview with BuzzFeed in which he roused the ire of an
entire generation of Beliebers, dishing out on his disdain for Canadian pop star Justin Bieber.
What's more, in the bizarre interview, Bell set his scathing sights on Ariana Grande,
calling out the singer while saying -
"You have to work to be able to appreciate what
you have. […] What work did she ever have to do in her life?"
As for his bankruptcy, "The Amanda Show" alum claimed that he wasn't too perturbed
by his financial ruin, declaring that he would soon bounce back as long as he was
devoted to his craft. But Bell did not, in fact, bounce back.
As if being almost killed in a car crash wasn't enough, he was faced with another life-altering
injury in 2015. TMZ reported that he broke his wrist after he dove into the bottom of a swimming
pool. After undergoing surgery, doctors told him to expect the worst when it came to picking
up his beloved guitar. Divulging details of the catastrophic injury on Instagram, he conceded -
"Doctors say I will most likely never play guitar again."
Though this prediction turned out to be false and he did indeed play guitar again,
things would never be the same. The accident left him plucking
strings in a way that's totally alien to him. He told Viva Glam -
"I'm playing completely differently and it's a bummer.
I'm still recovering. I'm playing but I'm completely learning a new way of playing."
Speaking with The Observer, Bell admitted that the
accident had affected his mobility and thus his shredding skills, lamenting -
"I'm really limited; I'm not rocking yet."
Indeed, he wouldn't make another album until five years later, when he released "The Lost Album,"
though, as Forbes explained, it was comprised of songs Bell had written a decade earlier.
Unfortunately for Drake Bell, he has had a number of run-ins with the law. While
his onscreen escapades were the basis for much comedy mischief on "Drake and Josh,"
his criminality is no laughing matter away from Nickelodeon.
According to TMZ, a then 23-year-old Bell was convicted of driving under the influence in San
Diego in 2009, and was once again arrested under suspicion of a DUI in 2016. Per the Los Angeles
Times, Bell was initially stopped by police due to dangerous driving, as he was spotted speeding
and maneuvering his vehicle erratically. After being pulled over, the cops could smell alcohol
on his breath, and he subsequently failed a breathalyzer test. TMZ reports that he
was sentenced to 96 days in jail and four years' probation, since the crime was his second offense.
Eventually, Bell was spared having to wait in a cell for months.
After less than two days, he was released from jail due to good behavior.
In 2021, fans were shocked when Drake Bell was arrested for endangering a child at a concert.
The incident dated back to 2017, when Bell embarked on a relationship with
a 15-year-old girl he'd met online a few years earlier.
In addition to accusations of sexual assault, a police spokesperson told BuzzFeed -
"The investigation also revealed that months leading up to the concert,
Bell sent the victim inappropriate social media messages."
According to AP News, Bell pleaded guilty and received two years of probation,
with the former star saying -
"My conduct was wrong. I'm sorry the victim was harmed. It was not my intention."
In the aftermath, Bell's ex-girlfriend, Melissa Lingafelt,
alleged to The Daily Beast that she had seen him grooming underage girls first-hand, saying -
"I saw really questionable, crazy s--- on his computer."
Perhaps what makes this all the more worrying is that Bell previously appeared to admit to being
problematic with women. In regard to his womanizing,
arguably sexist "Drake and Josh" persona, Bell once told Star Pulse -
"The character on the show is pretty much me."
"How about $10 and you come and listen to this with me?"
USA Today argued that Bell's conviction was reflective of family-friendly stars
exploiting their virtuous status as a means of gaining access to vulnerable women and girls.
In addition to corroborating allegations of Drake Bell's predatory behavior, his ex,
Melissa Lingafelt, has claimed that he violently abused her. In a since-deleted 2020 TikTok video,
Lingafelt claimed that a 20-year-old Bell preyed on her when she was just 16 years old, saying -
"Imagine the worst type of verbal abuse you could ever imagine, and that was what I got."
She went on to go into graphic detail regarding the physical abuse
Bell allegedly inflicted upon her on a regular basis. After posting the video,
Lingafelt was contacted by several other young women who claimed that he groomed and abused them.
As The Daily Beast reports, a number of women accused Bell of both physical and sexual assault,
with one TikTok user claiming that she was in eighth grade when he allegedly assaulted her.
Lingafelt told the outlet that she felt horrified by the barrage of successive abuse claims.
She also went into further detail regarding the alleged domestic violence, claiming that Bell
once used hot water in an attempt to burn her after she supposedly spent too long shopping.
In a statement to Variety, Bell vehemently denied ever being an abuser, saying -
"As our relationship ended — more than a decade ago — we, unfortunately, both called
each other terrible names, as often happens when couples are breaking up. But that is it."
Unlike their onscreen duo, Drake Bell and Josh Peck didn't find a way and are, in fact,
now frenemies as opposed to BFFs. News of the dissolution of their bromance began in 2017, when
Drake Bell revealed that Josh Peck didn't invite him to his wedding. As reported by Teen Vogue,
Bell wrote a series of since-deleted tweets, in which he lambasted his former pal, tweeting -
"When you're not invited to the wedding the message is clear. [...] True colors have come
out today. Message is loud and clear. Ties are officially cut. I'll miss you brotha."
Later, he clarified his tweets in an interview with Digital Spy,
admitting to being hurt, but saying that Peck had assured him that the wedding snub
was merely the result of miscommunication between the groom and his bride-to-be.
However, despite the duo appearing to reconcile at that year's MTV VMAs, it would appear that
the rejection was a little more than that. Appearing on "BFFs Podcast" in March 2022,
Peck admitted that he wants nothing to do with Bell, having not talked to him for many years
and saying he didn't appreciate getting text messages from Bell on his wedding night.
"And it's delusional because I'm like, 'Bro, it's like we worked at Coffee Bean
when we were 16. I'm sorry, I'm 31 now. I might've lost your number.'"
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault,
help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website
or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).