The name Drake Bell used to pull some serious weight, at least in younger circles.
The Nickelodeon star was among the network’s top talents in the late ’90s and through the 2000s, before gradually fading from relevance as fresh youthful talent overtook shows like Drake & Josh and The Amanda Show. Bell continued to work as a musician and actor post his Drake & Josh heyday, but he never quite managed to re-aquire the popularity he enjoyed in the mid-2000s. Several albums, plenty of controversy, and heaps of debt later, Bell is barely managing to hang onto relevance, and his net worth has plummeted in recent years. Particularly when compared to his Drake & Josh co-star, Josh Peck — who’s continued to find consistent work in the years following his graduation from Nickelodeon — Bell is worth surprisingly little, but he’s really got no one to blame but himself.
What is Drake Bell’s net worth?
Drake Bell is worth a grand total of around $600 thousand according to Celebrity Net Worth. It’s no small number, by non-movie star standards, but Bell’s lengthy resume across television and film would typically equal out to a far higher net worth. It’s certainly low when compared against his former co-star Josh Peck, who’s worth currently sits at around $6 million.
Why is Drake Bell’s net worth so low?
Bell’s net worth is high compared to your average American citizen, but shockingly low when you consider that his career on screen began when he was only five years old. Over 30 years of releases across the big and small screen, as well as several successful albums, Bell should have accumulated a few million, at least.
His lower-than-expected net worth is the result of a range of issues, largely stemming from Bell himself. The 36-year-old grappled with a string of legal issues starting in 2010, when his struggles with drunk driving began. Police later picked him up in the wee hours of Dec. 21, 2015 for driving under the influence, and he subsequently paid $20 thousand in bond, and ultimately pled guilty to the charges.
This came just a year after Bell filed bankruptcy protection in 2014, after claiming that he was a full $600 thousand in debt. Most of this money was owed to the IRS, and Bell lost his $2 million home in the trendy Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles following the bankruptcy. His income plummeted between 2012 and 2013, according to his bankruptcy filing, which claims Bell went from an annual income of over $400 thousand to a mere $14 thousand.
A few years later, more legal issues arose after Bell was accused of child endangerment and sexual assault. He was arrested in Ohio in 2021 following the above accusations, as they related to a 15-year-old fan. Bell denies that he knew the fan’s age at the time of their communication — particularly in relation to allegedly sexually-explicit messages — but that didn’t stop the courts from sentencing him to two years of probation and 200 hours of community service.
Bell’s career hasn’t completely halted, in the wake of his many controversies, but he’s certainly slowed down in recent years. He doesn’t boast nearly the income he used to, and it seems his lavish lifestyle no longer matches up to his earnings. This, paired with the star’s recent disappearance, has his few enduring fans concerned, as they wonder after his mental and physical well-being.
