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[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
The stars of Boy Meets World are finally discussing a disturbing situation involving a now-disgraced guest star from more than two decades ago.
On this week’s episode of the podcast Pod Meets World, former BMW co-stars Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle, and Rider Strong came together to talk about grooming, child sexual abuse, and manipulation. They were joined by family therapist Kati Morton as their guest on the show. And while the topic is certainly heavy on its own, there was a specific point to it that links back to their past — and former BMW guest star Brian Peck.
Peck, now 63, was first arrested back in 2003 and accused of sexually abusing a child actor whom he was training. Nearly a dozen other allegations followed, and he was later convicted in 2004 of sexually abusing an unnamed child actor with whom he had worked on a Nickelodeon set. For that, Peck ended up serving more than 16 months in prison.
Related: Jenelle Evans Posts Video With Son Jace Back Home Despite David Eason’s Abuse Charges!
Before all that, though, Peck appeared in minor roles in several episodes of the fifth season of Boy Meets World. That was back in 1997, long before anybody knew about the unsettling child sexual abuse acts and conviction that would come later. But for Friedle and Strong, they picked up on some deeply disturbing alleged grooming and manipulation by Peck all the same.
Friedle, now 47, recalled how Peck ingratiated himself with the cast even despite having such minor and short-lived roles on the show:
“I didn’t really go to parties. I didn’t really do that stuff. But I was working a lot after Boy Meets World, and this guy had so ingratiated himself into my life, I took him to three shows after Boy Meets World. This was the type of thing where the person he presented was this great, funny guy who was really good at his job, and you wanted to hang out with … I saw him every day, hung out with him every day, talked to him every day.”
And Strong, now 44, recalled hanging out with Peck “all the time” after filming, even despite there being a 20-year-age gap between the duo. Interestingly, things were not the same for Fishel, who is now 42. She remembered that Peck, who is gay, mostly ignored her:
“I think that’s important in the story of Rider and Will, about why he befriended the two of you so closely. And I did have lunch with him a couple of times, but only because someone else would invite me … He didn’t really make an effort to get to know me. He didn’t ingratiate himself as much into my life. I never heard from him again after the show ended.”
Danielle went on:
“The other adults on set, who maybe could have or should have said, ‘why are you guys going to lunch with this guy?’ Or, ‘why is this guy going to Rider’s house for a party?’ There was probably a part of them that didn’t say it because they were afraid it was going to be taken as homophobia, instead of, ‘this is a boundary, gay or not. This is a boundary about adults and kids.’”
Yeah, why was an older man allegedly so keen on going to a cast party held by teenagers?! Ugh…
For Friedle, who played Eric Matthews on the hit show, the worst part came after Peck was arrested on allegations of child sexual abuse. At Peck’s trial, the disgraced actor asked Will to support him with a statement in court. It was at that moment when Friedle realized things had gone too far:
“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.’ I just sat there wanting to die. It was like, ‘what the hell am I doing here?’ It was horrifying all the way around.”
Jeez…
Reflecting on that courtroom appearance, and the fact that both Strong and Friedle unknowingly wrote letters in support of Peck at the time, Will added:
“We weren’t told the whole story, but it doesn’t change the fact that we did it. I still can’t get the words out to describe all of the things that I’m feeling inside of myself.”
As for Strong, who played Shawn Hunter on BMW, his last encounter with Peck was at a Hollywood party about seven years ago. Peck was allegedly just as manipulative as ever — but this time, as an adult, Rider could see exactly what was going on:
“The story that he was telling me was nonsense but what he was letting me know was that he was with famous people who validate him and put him in a category of Hollywood royalty. He did that constantly when we were on the set of Boy Meets World and I never saw it because it was so effortless. Here I was like at this party and I had to leave, I was so freaked the f**k out.”
Damn!!
As for Friedle, he hasn’t seen Brian Peck in nearly two full decades now. Still, he is struggling with the fact that he defended a sex offender in court rather than side with the victim. He concluded:
“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]. 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.”
Wow. Those are some very heavy and difficult emotions to work through.
Related: Harmony Montgomery’s Father Pleads Guilty To Abuse Of A Corpse At Murder Trial
FYI, the sudden focus on Peck has come about now as his crimes are expected to be explored as part of ID‘s forthcoming docuseries Quiet On Set. That series will examine the alleged abuse of children working in Hollywood in the late 1990s and early 2000s — so, right around the time of Peck’s reported run.
If you have sincere cause to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to learn more about resources, consider checking out https://www.rainn.org/resources.
[Image via Judy Eddy/MEGA/WENN]
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