“Boy Meets World” stars Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong and Will Friedle got serious on the latest episode of their podcast “Pod Meets World” when they discussed their past friendship with season five guest star Brian Peck, who later was convicted of child abuse.
On Monday's episode of Pod Meets World, the trio were joined by family therapist Kati Morton to discuss “the difficult topics of personal hygiene, childhood sexual abuse and its impact on victims,” following Strong and Friedle's recent statement were contacted to work with Peck ahead of the release of Quiet on Set, an upcoming documentary about alleged abuse behind the scenes at Nickelodeon.
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Peck appeared in several episodes of Boy Meets World in 1997 and became friends with young Strong and Friedle, who played Shawn and Eric, respectively, on the ABC sitcom. A few years later, in 2003, Peck was accused of molesting a child and pleaded no contest to charges of committing a lewd act against a child. He was subsequently convicted and spent 16 months in prison.
Both Strong and Friedle remember spending a lot of time with Peck on and off set. “After Boy Meets World, I was working a lot, and this guy had become so integrated into my life that I took him to three shows after Boy Meets World,” Friedle said. “It was one of those things where the person he introduced was a great, funny guy who was really good at his job and who you wanted to hang out with… I saw him every day, hung out with him every day, talked .” to him every day.”
Fishel wondered if being an out gay man helped Peck get approval from his parents to spend time with actors 20 years younger than him. “There was probably a part of them that didn't say it because they were afraid it would be perceived as homophobia, rather than saying, 'That's a boundary, gay or not. That's a line between adults and children.'” Fishel said.
The actors also recall how Peck manipulated them into believing he was innocent when he was charged with child molestation in 2003, and how they didn't realize at the time how serious the allegations against him were. The hosts claim that Peck told them a version of events that reversed the situation so that he looked like the victim, and that they ended up fighting the victim's family in court to defend Peck. “My instinct at first was: ‘My friend, this can’t be happening. It has to be the other person's fault,'” Friedle said. “The way he tells it, the story makes perfect sense.”
“He didn’t say nothing happened,” Rider said. “So when we heard about this case and knew something about it, it was always in the context of, 'I did this, I'm guilty. I will take whatever punishment the government decides, but I am a…' Victim of Jailbait. There was this hot guy, I just did this and he's underage.' And we bought that storyline. I never heard about the other things because back then you couldn't google it to find out what people were being charged with. So in hindsight,” Rider speculated, “he took a plea deal and admitted one thing, that's all he admitted to us, but it looks like he's been accused of a number of crimes that we know of knew nothing.
When Peck asked Strong and Friedle to assist him in court, they agreed. They even wrote letters to the judge defending Peck. And Friedle said the victim's mother confronted Peck for taking her to court.
“'Look at all the famous people you brought with you and it doesn't change what you did to my child,'” he recalled her saying as he “just sat there and wanted to die. It was like, 'What the what am I supposed to do here?' It was terrible all around. We weren't told the whole story, but that doesn't change the fact that we did. I still can’t find the words to describe all the things I feel inside.”
Friedle continued: “There is an actual victim here, and he turned us against the victim so that we are now on his team. That’s the thing that I look back on as my ever-present shame for the whole time.” [thing]. If I get involved with someone who is a good actor and manipulator, I could trace it back to my youth, and that's just how it is. It's terrible. I'm going to use that to grow as a person, but if it's an actual victim and I'm now on the perpetrator's side, that's the thing that I can't get over and haven't been able to get over.”
The actors end the podcast episode by saying they hope their conversation can help even one person realize that they are being manipulated or manipulated and seek the right help.
Representatives for Peck did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.
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