Saddest Updates on Former Nickelodeon Stars

From 2004 to 2007, Tylor Chase performed Martin Qwerly on greater than 30 episodes of the TEENick sitcom “Ned’s Declassified Faculty Survival Information.” A giant-time mind with the reward of gab, Qwerly was considered one of Ned (Devon Werkheiser), Cookie (Daniel Curtis Lee), and Moze’s (Lindsey Shaw) pals at James Ok. Polk Center Faculty. Along with his work on the Nickelodeon collection, Chase performed Younger Adam within the 2007 James Franco-directed characteristic “Good Time Max” and voiced Hank Newbern within the 2011 Rockstar online game “L.A. Noire.” Over the past decade-plus, although, the ex-child star has fallen on laborious instances.

Viral movies on varied social media platforms confirmed followers, content material creators, and former costars interacting with Chase on the streets of Riverside, California, the place the previous “Ned’s Declassified” star has skilled homelessness. Among the movies have proven folks providing help to Chase, together with Curtis, his “Ned’s Declassified” co-star. “The Mighty Geese” star/comic Shaun Weiss has additionally tried to get Chase into therapy for substance misuse, and pleaded with followers to cease filming him. “We’re having a very laborious time. Tyler has to need to go to therapy,” Weiss stated in an Instagram replace. “We don’t actually know what to do. I’ll inform you what’s not useful is the folks that need to go and see him to get a selfie for his or her Instagram.”

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“Quiet on Set: The Darkish Facet of Youngsters TV” supplied a damning have a look at the darkish behind-the-scenes setting on the units of common teen and youngsters’s programming, notably at Nickelodeon, throughout the Nineties and early 2000s. Maybe the most important story to come back out of the docu-series was “Drake & Josh” star Drake Bell’s revelation that he was sexually assaulted by his former dialogue coach and supervisor Brian Peck. Peck was arrested in 2003 and finally pleaded no contest to fees together with committing a lewd act upon a baby, however the sufferer’s id was not revealed publicly. Peck later served greater than a 12 months in jail and was ordered to register as a intercourse offender.

For Bell, going public along with his tragic story was each a liberating and therapeutic expertise. “It’s been a very nice weight lifted,” he advised Individuals in 2025. Nonetheless, Bell additionally made it clear that he’s nonetheless coping with the trauma. “I don’t need to sugarcoat it and make the message, ‘Hey, all you bought to do is simply inform any person and get your story out, and if you get up the following day, it’s going to be gone and every little thing’s going to be positive and also you’re going to stroll by means of life with none ache or sorrow or unhappiness!’ It’s all the time going to be there, but it surely’s so much nicer getting help.”

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Within the years between his Nickelodeon days and his “Quiet on Set” revelation, Drake Bell contended with a large number of authorized and private points all his personal. In 2010, Bell was convicted of DUI in relation to an incident that occurred in San Diego the prior 12 months. He picked up a second DUI conviction in Los Angeles County in 2016. Then, in 2020, a former girlfriend accused him of bodily and emotional abuse and hinted at Bell exhibiting inappropriate conduct towards underage ladies. Quick-forward to 2021, and Bell was arrested and later indicted in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, for alleged crimes involving a 15-year-old woman.

Later that 12 months, Bell pleaded responsible within the case and was sentenced to 2 years’ probation. Talking on the “Not Skinny However Not Fats” podcast in 2024, Bell, who claimed he minimize contact with the woman upon discovering her age, stated he entered a responsible plea in an effort to ease the burden of the case on his household. “I used to be being investigated, and that was actually tough on my household, and fortunately … it turned out that almost all of what was being accused of me wasn’t true,” he stated (through Rolling Stone). “However I did have these conversations [with the teen], and so I took accountability for that and ended up pleading responsible as a result of, simply, financially, I used to be simply devastated. I had simply had a son, and I didn’t need to put my household by means of all of this anymore.”

Actress Allie DiMeco starred as Rosalina, the bassist and love curiosity of Nat (Nat Wolff), within the Nickelodeon musical comedy collection “The Bare Brothers Band” from 2007 to 2009. Throughout the present’s third and ultimate season, the performer discovered herself concerned in a storyline that noticed her character exit the titular band and expertise a falling out with Nat after she was snapped kissing a person whereas touring on a worldwide cruise. Within the present, Rosalina, Nat, and the band (together with her substitute within the act) finally make up and get again to the enterprise of constructing music. In actual life, although, the expertise of bringing that story to life was much more traumatic for DiMeco.

In 2024, DiMeco posted a TikTok video revealing that she had been compelled to kiss the actor taking part in her French fling (Jake Hertzog) despite the fact that he was roughly twice her age. “There was an episode the place Rosalina cheated on Nat and sort of kissed a French man,” DiMeco stated (through Selection). “He’s a 30-year-old man. I’m sorry, I couldn’t even watch it. It offers me f*****g the ick, and it truthfully offers me PTSD. … My mother was very towards it, they usually just about made me really feel like I used to be going to lose my job, that I may be fired if I didn’t do it.”

Teen comedies weren’t the one exhibits Nickelodeon was churning out for its barely older viewers. In 2012, the community aired a telenovela-style drama known as “Hollywood Heights” on Nick at Nite and, later, its revamped TeenNick slate. Actor Cody Longo performed the main position of Eddie Duran, a younger rock star and mentor/love curiosity for upstart songwriter Loren Tate, who was portrayed by Brittany Underwood. In true telenovela style, the community produced a whopping 80 episodes of “Hollywood Heights,” releasing all of them that summer season and wrapping up all of the restricted collection’ storylines within the course of. Afterward, Longo — who beforehand labored on the NBC cleaning soap “Days of Our Lives” — continued to seem in varied movie and tv initiatives.

Sadly, Longo’s life got here to a tragic finish in February 2023. In keeping with a written assertion from his pal and agent, Alex Gittelson (through NBC Information), the 34-year-old actor “died in his sleep at his residence in Austin, TX,” and the reason for dying was “believed to have been alcohol-related.” TMZ obtained a duplicate of Longo’s post-mortem report months later, confirming Gittelson’s suspicion, because the official explanation for dying was reportedly listed as “continual ethanol abuse.”

Amanda Bynes was the breakout star of Nickelodeon’s late Nineties/early 2000s little one stars, thrilling audiences and community executives alike along with her comedic timing and cute persona. She was lightning in a bottle, prompting the powers that be to rapidly push her to the forefront of the “All That” solid earlier than giving her her personal star automobile with “The Amanda Present” in 1999. Bynes’ star continued to rise after her Nick days, too, as she went on to seem within the WB sitcom “What I Like About You” in 2002 and teenage comedy movies like 2002’s “Huge Fats Liar,” 2003’s “What a Lady Desires,” 2006’s “She’s the Man,” and others. Nonetheless, as she grew out of these teen roles, she fell prey to intense media scrutiny, authorized troubles, and fan hypothesis about her look and psychological state.

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Ultimately, Bynes retreated from the highlight completely. In 2024, she emerged to disclose that her weight was fluctuating because of despair. Nonetheless, she returned in late 2025 to highlight her weight reduction journey on Instagram, writing (through Individuals), “I often don’t like paparazzi footage bc I used to be 180lbs, however now I’ve misplaced 28lbs on Ozempic! I’m right down to 152lbs.” Hopefully, she’ll get a reprieve from the paparazzi’s prying digital camera lenses as her journey continues.

When Nickelodeon was nonetheless discovering its means as a community throughout the early Nineties, “Salute Your Shorts” was considered one of its first actual success tales, even because the sitcom ran for simply two seasons from 1991 to ’92. The collection chronicled the hijinks of the teenager campers and employees members on the fictional summer season camp, Camp Anawanna. Actor Kirk Baily performed camp counselor Kevin “Ug” Lee, who basically served because the foil for the present’s younger heroes. After “Salute Your Shorts” ended, Baily went on to seem in a large number of movie and tv initiatives, and settled into a distinct segment as a voice actor in anime, video video games, and movie/TV.

Baily’s life was minimize tragically quick, although, in February 2022 when the actor handed away on the age of 59. As reported by Selection, his home accomplice, Ranjani Forehead, later confirmed that he died after battling lung most cancers. Nonetheless, Baily will all the time be remembered for his efficiency on “Salute Your Shorts,” and he was ready to participate in a reunion along with his castmates on the “Good Burger” pop-up store in 2019.

On the earth of Nickelodeon’s teen programming, as with Hollywood at giant, some actors are lucky sufficient to play main roles whereas others present help as best-friend characters. Maybe no Nick actor performed the a part of the lovable pal like Jenette McCurdy, who, as Sam Puckett, famously seconded Miranda Cosgrove’s Carly Shay on the late 2000s sitcom “iCarly,” after which she did the identical for Ariana Grande’s Cat Valentine within the mid-2010s on “Sam & Cat.” From an extremely younger age, McCurdy impressed along with her comedic timing and likability. Behind the scenes, although, all was not nicely with the burgeoning star.

In her 2022 memoir, “I’m Glad My Mother Died,” McCurdy wrote at size about her sophisticated relationship along with her mom, which grew to become the tragedy that modified her life eternally. In keeping with McCurdy, her mom compelled her into appearing regardless of not having an curiosity within the craft herself. She additional described being emotionally and sexually abused by her mom, who in the end died of breast most cancers in 2013. In July 2025, AppleTV+ greenlit a collection based mostly on the memoir, with Jennifer Aniston set to star and produce.

Between her poisonous relationship along with her mom, on-set points, profession pressures, and extra, Jennette McCurdy’s life as an up-and-coming actress throughout the 2000s and 2010s was something however a pleasure cruise. And the burden of every little thing that she was contending with throughout her Nickelodeon run bled into her relationships behind the scenes, together with the dynamic between her and her “Sam & Cat” costar, Ariana Grande. In her memoir “I’m Glad My Mother Died,” McCurdy obtained sincere about her expertise working with Grande, revealing that the secondary therapy she allegedly obtained by the hands of the present’s producers, coupled with all the eye and alternatives that flowed Grande’s means, fomented a stage of jealousy inside her.

Nonetheless, it was apparently a sport of charades with Tom Hanks that served because the straw that broke the again of their relationship. Wrote McCurdy (through Leisure Tonight), “I couldn’t take it anymore. Music performances and journal covers… no matter, I’ll recover from it. However taking part in a household sport at Nationwide Treasure, two-time Academy Award–winner and six-time nominee Tom Hanks’s home? I’m accomplished. … Pop star success I may deal with, however hanging out with Sheriff Woody, with Forrest F*****g Gump? This has gone too far.”

In some ways, the documentary “Quiet on Set: The Darkish Facet of Youngsters TV” was a watershed second for performers who had endured all kinds of mistreatment throughout their time on Nickelodeon exhibits. The docu-series supplied them with a chance to interrupt their silence, to come back clear in regards to the abuse they allegedly endured, and take one other step of their therapeutic journeys whereas exposing the folks and processes that allowed them to undergo as little one stars. With out the present, the world could by no means have recognized in regards to the horror that Drake Bell endured by the hands of one of the vital trusted adults in his life. Nonetheless, not everybody who participated within the collection had a constructive expertise.

Raquel Lee, who starred alongside Amanda Bynes on “The Amanda Present,” and Alexa Nikolas, who performed Nicole Bristow from 2005 to ’06 on “Zoey 101,” lamented their “Quiet on Set” expertise in talking with IndieWire in 2024. “After watching the present, I noticed that it was in no way what I signed up for,” Lee Bolleau advised the outlet. Mentioned Nikolas: “They made me really feel like my story was going to be heard, and it wasn’t.”

After showing in bit elements on collection like “Webster” and “Tales From the Crypt” throughout the late Nineteen Eighties, Michael Ray Bower broke out as considered one of Nickelodeon’s early teen stars in 1990 as Eddie “Donkeylips” Gelfand on the teenager sitcom “Salute Your Shorts.” Donkeylips supplied comedian reduction in spades whereas serving because the second to red-headed camp bully Bobby Budnick (Danny Cooksey). Bower was additionally the primary character to point out up on display screen throughout every episode, because the present’s intro opened with Donkeylips taking part in the trumpet. Within the days since “Salute Your Shorts,” Bower has racked up a veritable bonanza of movie and tv credit, together with a supporting position within the 2001 Ivan Reitman-directed comedy “Evolution.”

Extra just lately, although, the actor has stoked considerations about his well being scenario. As reported by The U.S. Solar, Bower took to Instagram to share among the struggles he had endured since being identified with Kind 2 diabetes. “I gained’t lie. It’s scary to me all these things, or anytime I get harm,” he wrote (through The Solar), revealing that he had suffered quite a few falls just lately because of “equilibrium points.” Bower added that he felt “alone” in coping along with his medical scenario, and that he was going through “a future with no care.”

Jansen Panettiere could not have been essentially the most well-known member of his household — his sister, Hayden Panettiere, was one of many breakout tv stars of the late 2000s due to her position as Claire Bennet on the NBC superhero collection “Heroes” — however he was a expertise in his personal proper. After voicing Periwinkle within the Nick Jr. collection “Blue’s Clues” in 2004, he voiced Truman X within the 2005-06 animated collection “The X’s,” after which starred within the Nickelodeon made-for-TV movie “The Final Day of Summer time” in 2007. Following his Nick work, he starred within the 2009 coming-of-age sports activities movie “The Excellent Sport,” and logged a litany of different credit.

Sadly, Panettiere died in February 2023 on the age of 28. As reported by Deadline, his household later revealed that his explanation for dying was “cardiomegaly, or enlarged coronary heart, coupled with aortic valve problems.” Two years after his dying, his sister paid tribute to her late brother, with whom she had an in depth relationship, through Instagram, writing, “Relaxation straightforward brother. You might be so missed and past liked.”

Not all of Nickelodeon’s stars throughout the ’90s and 2000s have been of the teenager selection, and a few of them didn’t even seem on digital camera. Jim Ward was already a veteran voice actor by the point he made his strategy to the community. Nonetheless, he cemented his legacy within the craft along with his work as Doug Dimmadome, Chet Ubetcha, and different characters throughout 10 seasons of the 2001-17 animated collection “The Pretty OddParents.” He additionally lent his voice to myriad different movie, tv, and online game characters throughout a profession that started means again within the ’70s. He famously portrayed Captain Qwark within the Ratchet & Clank online game franchise.

Alas, Ward died on the age of 66 in December 2025. Ward’s spouse, Janice, later advised TMZ that her husband had died because of problems from advanced-stage Alzheimer’s illness.