Kirk Cameron recalls questionable encounters with convicted child molester Brian Peck on “Growing Pains” set

"It's shocking," the actor said. "It's sickening."

A decade and a half before actor and dialogue coach Brian Peck was convicted of child molestation, a teenage Kirk Cameron worked with him on the popular '80s sitcom Growing Pains. Now, in the wake of the explosive docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, Cameron is reflecting on some unsettling interactions with Peck.

"I started acting when I was 9 years old," Cameron, 53, said in a new interview with the Daily Wire. "I began Growing Pains at 14 years old. And I was suspicious that that stuff was going on behind the curtains even when I was working on Growing Pains."

Peck, 63, played several minor characters over the course of Growing Pains, which ran from 1985 to 1992. He was arrested in 2003 and convicted on multiple counts of child molestation the following year, pleading no contest to a charge of performing a lewd act with a 14- or 15-year-old and a charge of oral copulation with a minor under 16. Last month, Investigation Discovery's Quiet on Set revealed that Drake & Josh star Drake Bell was the John Doe in the Peck case.

Cameron, speaking about himself and Growing Pains costar Leonardo DiCaprio, told the Daily Wire, "There were several young boys like us that [Peck] interacted with on a regular basis… So, it's shocking. It's sickening."

When asked about Growing Pains behind-the-scenes footage included in Quiet on Set that shows Peck touching and rubbing young DiCaprio's arms, Cameron said, "That's the kind of thing you would see and make you pause and go, 'There's a little flag on the field,' but not enough to prove something worse."

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to a representative for Peck for comment.

Cameron also noted that the Growing Pains showrunner Steven Marshall was convicted of distribution of child pornography in 2010. The actor characterized Hollywood as "an industry that tries to indemnify, exonerate the very pedophiles that we say we want to get rid of, because they are the pedophiles."

According to Cameron, Peck and others like him were beloved on set. "The consensus was these individuals were charming, they ingratiated themselves into their victims' lives and were generally likable people when they were putting the 'nice guy' face on," he told the conservative news outlet, while adding that something about them still felt off. "It was like your 'Spidey-senses' told you something's not right. They were handsy and physical in a smarmy kind of way. But not so overt that you could totally detect what was happening."

Cameron suggested that Peck's surface-level affability was what compelled his costars like Alan Thicke and Joanna Kerns to write letters of support during the Bell trial. "Nobody wants to believe that the fun, charming dialogue coach who's ingratiated himself into the lives of others — almost to the point of being a trusted family friend — would do something so wicked and evil," he said. The actor also expressed his sympathy for victims of abuse. "These children, like Drake Bell," he said, "they have scars that they will carry with them permanently throughout their life."

Cameron recalled that his mother was on set every day he worked on Growing Pains as a minor. "Thank God I got out of there unscathed in the 1980s," he said. "Those people who did this stuff to these kids are the same kind of people in the industry today. Still making twisted, sick, perverted material that's hurting children today. And they need to be completely rooted out and replaced."

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

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Related content:

• Drake Bell details 'extensive' sexual abuse as child star by Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck

• Drake Bell says he saw his sexual abuser Brian Peck with young teens after prison release

• Nickelodeon star recalls awkward encounter with convicted child molester Brian Peck in new Quiet on Set episode

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