Drake Bell is explaining why he chose to plead guilty to child endangerment charges in 2021. While appearing on the April 2 episode of Dear Media’s Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, the former Nickelodeon star said his family played a role in his legal decision.
“I had just had a son and I didn’t want to put my family through all of this anymore,” Drake, 37, told host Amanda Hirsch. “I ended up going through the process the way that I did. Very regretful.”
Drake and his estranged wife Janet Von Schmeling share a 2-year-old son named Jeremy. The couple are currently going through a divorce after nearly five years of marriage.
Back in 2021, Drake pleaded guilty to attempted child endangerment and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles. In his recent interview, the Drake & Josh star admitted that he responded to some DMs and “got myself into conversations that I shouldn’t have had.”
“I ended up finding out that I was talking to someone that I shouldn’t have been talking to and it snowballed into these allegations that were not true and it just turned into this big thing,” he said. “I was being investigated and that was really difficult on my family. Thankfully, through 18 months of subpoenaing my phones and computers and witnesses, it turned out that most of what was being accused of me was not true.”
While Drake took responsibility for having conversations with the underage girl, he denied the claims that he groomed her.
Drake Bell talked about why he admitted to child endangerment charges in 2021. He said he did it for his family, especially for his young son. Despite going through a tough legal process, he feels sorry about it. Drake and his wife are getting divorced after being married for almost five years. In 2021, he admitted to some wrong conversations, but he denied grooming the girl.
