Drake Bell Says 3-Year-Old Son Asked ‘Why Do They Keep Calling You Timmy?’ Upon Seeing The Fairly OddParents (Exclusive)

• Drake Bell welcomed a son with his estranged wife Janet Von Schemling in 2021
• The former Nickelodeon star tells PEOPLE that the 3-year-old watched A Fairly Odd Christmas, in which Bell plays Timmy Turner, and thought “it's his dad going to the North Pole.”
• Bell says his son “doesn't pay attention” when an episode of Drake & Josh comes on

Drake Bell might just be one fairly odd parent.

The actor and musician, 38, tells PEOPLE that playing Timmy Turner in TV movies A Fairly Odd Christmas and A Fairly Odd Summer caused some confusion for his 3-year-old son, whom he welcomed with estranged wife Janet Von Schmeling.

“He's watching it and he's like, "Dada, you got to go to the North Pole? You got to meet Santa?’ ” Bell says of his son’s reaction to 2012’s A Fairly Odd Christmas. “And then he turned to me and he goes, ‘Dada, why did they keep calling you Timmy?’ He really thinks it's his dad going to the North Pole. It's so funny.”

Other than that, Bell says his son “doesn't understand” his celebrity status.

“When we're at Disneyland or places and people are taking pictures or people are coming up, it doesn't really kick in,” the former child star continues. “He's too little.”

As a result, Bell’s son hasn’t been able to sit through an episode of Drake & Josh yet. “He's like, ‘It's too much talk, I don't get what's going on,’” Bell says. “He doesn't pay attention.”

However, Bell’s 3-year-old nephew recognized the “I Kind of Relate” singer on screen when he caught a glimpse of the Nickelodeon series.

“His mom's sister sent me a video of my nephew: she had the Netflix app open and a preview for Drake & Josh came on. He was watching the TV and he goes, ‘Mama, that's my Tio Drake. I miss him, I love him,’ ” Bell says. “I'm like, ‘Oh my goodness, that is so adorable.’"

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Becoming a dad shifted Bell’s priorities. “Having my son has shed a big light on the important things in life,” Bell, who is currently on tour in support of his latest album, Non-Stop Flight, says. “You grow up real quick when you have a little guy.”

Bell also credited his son with being the reason why he spoke out about the sexual abuse he experienced during his Nickelodeon days in the 2024 docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. “As he grows, my hope is that he’ll be able to say, ‘My dad did go through that, and the man that I know today is a hero to me,’ ” Bell said on Today in May.

One year after Quiet on Set’s release, Bell tells PEOPLE it feels like “a really nice weight lifted” to have shared what he went through at the hands of his then-dialogue coach Brian Peck. Peck, now 64, also served as Bell’s manager and he was arrested in 2003 on 11 charges that included sodomy, performing a lewd act upon a child 14 or 15 by a person 10 years older and oral copulation by anesthesia or controlled substance. Peck spent 16 months in prison and was mandated to register as a sex offender.

“It's a roller coaster of emotions,” Bell says of coming forward as the unnamed child in Peck’s 2004 case. “I don't want to sugarcoat it and make the message, ‘Hey, all you got to do is just tell somebody and get your story out and when you wake up the next day, it's going to be gone and everything's going to be fine and you're going to walk through life without any pain or sorrow or sadness!’ It's always going to be there, but it's a lot nicer getting support.”