Joey Lawrence shares how he survived the ‘dark side’ of early fame as ‘90s child stars allege abuse

Lawrence’s reflections on his experience as an adolescent actor come after Nickelodeon alum Drake Bell — among other former child stars who worked for the network — alleged they were abused on set and behind closed doors in ID’s “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” docuseries, which premiered Monday.

Bell, 37, for his part, revealed that he was the child actor who was sexually abused by Brian Peck, the acting and dialogue coach sentenced to a 16-month jail sentence in 2004 for such crimes.

Peck’s crimes, along with their impact on Bell, are explored in “Quiet on Set,” though his associations with the cast of Disney Channel’s juggernaut hit “Boy Meets World” are not.

Series stars Will Friedle and Rider Strong were among the many actors to defend Peck in court, a choice that Bell has publicly condemned.

Last month, however, Friedle, Strong claimed in a “Pod Meets World” podcast episode with castmate Danielle Fishel that they had been groomed by Peck — seemingly using that as an excuse for why they supported him in court.

“Will was 27 years old and Brian told him what he did. Many people turned away and said no I won’t write a letter but they did. Will was not manipulated,” Bell wrote in an Instagram comment, responding to a user who asserted that Friedle, now 47, and Strong, now 44, were “victims” of Pecks’ as well.

He added in a separate comment that Strong was “24 years old when he wrote the letter and was told by Brian what he did,” pointing out that — like Friedle — the Disney Channel graduate “wrote the letter anyway.”

Joey’s middle brother, Matthew, starred on “Boy Meets World” for some time, providing space for the Lawrence brothers to develop a strong friendship with Friedle in particular.

Joey acknowledges that Peck “was brought into work with young casts, like, a lot” — but bypassed any any professional — or potentially harmful — exchanges with him.

“Here’s the deal. I think everybody sort of knew him because he was in that circle. I ran into him several times. I never worked with him … and he wasn’t on ‘Brotherly Love,’” he explains. “We didn’t have him around. We didn’t need him because we were brothers, we were working on our own stuff.”

“Quiet on Set” also details accusations of sexism, racism and inappropriate workplace behavior against former Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider — who helmed iconic projects such as “All That,” “The Amanda Show” and “Zoey 101.”

In response to the doc, Schneider, 58, said in a recent interview with BooG!E — who played T-Bo on his other hit show “iCarly” — that he owes a “strong apology” to many. Additionally, he called for Nickelodeon to cut taboo jokes from his series that remain available to stream.

“I wish I could go back, especially to those earlier years of my career, and bring the growth and the experience that I have now and just do a better job and never, ever feel like it was okay to be an a–hole to anyone, ever,” he told BooG!E, born Bobby Bowman.

“Let’s cut those jokes out of the show, just like I would have done 20 years ago or 25 years ago. I want my shows to be popular,” Schneider continued.

“I want everyone to like [the shows], the more people who liked the shows, the happier I am. So if there’s anything that needs to be cut because it’s upsetting somebody, let’s cut it.”

Meanwhile, Joey tells Page Six that he hopes anyone damaged by the industry — and its predatory players — is able to heal.

“It is sad to see those stories and my heart breaks for everybody who went through those things. You try to come out of it strong. Some people don’t come out of it, some people make it,” he says.

“But that’s just life, unfortunately. It happens whether you’re in the business, whether you’re not in the business. Terrible things happen all the time and we just have to learn from those and pray about them and hopefully the awareness grows so that less and less of it happens. That’s all you can do.”