Blue’s Clues star Steve Burns has been praised for fans ‘checking in’ with them following the docuseries Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids, in which Drake Bell detailed his childhood sexual abuse.

Drake & Josh star Bell, 37, identified himself as the minor who harassed dialogue coach Brian Peck on the Investigation Discovery series.

Registered sex offender Peck, 63, served 16 months in prison from 2004 to 2005 after being arrested on 11 charges – including sodomy, lewd acts on a child aged 14 or 15 by a person 10 years older, and oral copulation through anesthesia or controlled substances.

Burns, 50, who was the original host of the Nickelodeon children’s television show Blue’s Clues from 1996 to 2002, took to TikTok this week in a video saying, “Hey, I’m checking in.” Tell me, what’s going on?’

Burns — who was not referenced in the docuseries, then sat silently nodding as if listening to someone — as fans praised him for his empathy.

One wrote: “Thanks for being one of the GOOD parts of Nickelodeon, Steve,” while another typed: “Steve checking up on the now grown children he left behind is another full circle moment.”

Others wrote, “After the Nickelodeon thing, we need our Steve now more than ever,” “I feel like he knew the Nickelodeon fans needed this after the documentary came out. And this is the best answer: how are you? Are you OK?’

“Not that I’m sitting in bed in tears at almost 3am because Steve from Blues Clues shows up on my fyp and asks what’s going on? The only thing we have left is purely from our childhood.’

The four-part docuseries from Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz describes Brian as “one of the cogs in the Dan Schneider machine,” as the Nickelodeon executive producer oversaw the crew accused of abuse, sexism, racism and inappropriate behavior on the set.

“That was probably the darkest part of my career,” the 58-year-old Emmy nominee — who left Nickelodeon in 2018 — admitted in a 19-minute DanWarp YouTube video on Tuesday.

‘Waiting the last two nights has been very difficult. I am confronted with my past behavior, some of which is shameful and which I regret. I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology.”

Brian was also an associate of canceled director Bryan Singer, who infamously hosted Hollywood parties full of underage boys, and his career ended in 2019 after he faced a slew of sexual abuse allegations.

Sadly, Bell continued the cycle of abuse by pleading guilty to ‘attempted endangerment’ in 2021 [of] children and distributing material harmful to young people.’

The Every Day Is Christmas With You singer was sentenced to two years of probation and 200 hours of community service after a 19-year-old woman accused him of grooming her for ages 12 to 15 and sexually assaulting her during his 2017 Cleveland concert .

Drake — who was charged with drunken driving in 2010 and 2016 — said he only took the plea deal to end the scandal quickly, claiming he didn’t know her age and denying he ever sent her sexual photos or engaged in sexual activity had undertaken.

Bell also denied all allegations of verbal and physical abuse in 2020 from his ex-girlfriend Melissa Lingafelt, who also accused him on TikTok of “having inappropriate conversations with underage girls online.”

“I took responsibility for that, you know, I did what was asked of me, but the media got their hands on so much disinformation and it absolutely destroyed me,” The Masked Singer Mexico contestant said on Quiet On Set .

“And I started to lose our control. If I had continued on that path, that very likely could have been the end of my story.”

Drake’s wife of four years — Janet Von Schmeling — filed for divorce from him on April 20, and she appears to have primary custody of their toddler son Jeremy Drake Bell.

On July 16, Bell announced via X that he was starting to write a book called I Found A Way, adding, “You will finally know my true story.”

Paula Abdul cut a somber figure as she was seen stepping out a day after releasing texts between her and Nigel Lythgoe, amid claims that he sexually assaulted her.

The 61 year-old singer sported a casual ensemble as she left an office building in Century City on Thursday. 

The former American Idol judge wore a light grey long-sleeve top tucked into a pair of dark sweatpants. She completed her outfit with white sneakers, black sunglasses and a black clutch under her arm.

The busy star held a silver iPhone in her hand. Under her other arm she carried a large bottle of water.  

Her shoulder length tresses were parted in the middle and styled straight for the occasion.

A day prior Paula hit back at American Idol producer Nigel, accusing him of ‘vitriolic attacks’ on her character after he denies her claims that he sexually assaulted and harassed her.

In new court documents obtained by DailyMail.com, the singer shared several texts from Lythgoe in which he made risqué suggestions to her including, ‘Let’s gently make love before my drugs wear off’ and ‘Is a small grope of the a** asking too much?’

Abdul filed a lawsuit against Lythgoe, 74, in December, alleging sexual assault and battery on two separate occasions while she was working for him between 2002 and 2015. 

And earlier this month, the British reality TV mogul filed an answer, vehemently denying Abdul’s allegations, saying she was ‘untethered from reality’ and portrayed her as a drug abuser who used to ‘drool and pass out in audition rooms’ during her time on Idol.

Lythgoe’s March 5 response – filed the same day another unnamed woman sued him for sexual assault and battery – contained several affectionate texts and emails from Abdul that he claimed prove the two were actually close friends and ‘show how Abdul really felt about Lythgoe during and after the time she now alleges abuse occurred.’

Now, in her new court filing, Abdul is hitting back with a motion calling for most of Lythgoe’s 22-page answer to her lawsuit to be stricken from the case because his allegations against her are ‘immaterial, false and improper.’

Abdul’s lawyers illustrated Lythgoe’s ‘sexual harassment’ with their own slew of sexy texts he sent her. In one he says, ‘When you get back to LA, will you please make love to me…slowly and lovingly!’

In another, he writes, ‘I’ll come if you promise me a big wet kiss….with tongues!…Is a small grope of the a** asking too much?’

And in a third he writes, ‘Wanna come round and take off that beautiful dress, jump in the pool naked with me? Let’s cling to each other like we’re the last 2 people on Earth and gently make love before my drugs wear off? HaHa!’

Lythgoe’s response ‘is rife with argumentative and vitriolic character attacks on Ms. Abdul and superfluous background that are irrelevant to the sexual assault, battery and harassment claims pled by Ms. Abdul or the defenses asserted by Lythgoe,’ her attorneys state.

‘Lythgoe’s answer clearly is a blatant attempt to smear Ms. Abdul’s reputation and to cure the negative press he has received from now being sued by five separate women for sexual assault and battery.’

Calling Lythgoe’s filed response ‘false and misleading,’ the star’s attorneys accuse him of ‘cherry-picking’ the texts and emails he included in his answer ‘to suggest a friendly relationship while conveniently failing to include messages supporting Ms. Abdul’s claims that she was sexually assaulted and harassed by Lythgoe for years.’

Of Lythgoe’s claims that emails and texts from Abdul show the two were close friends, her attorneys argued, ‘Whether Ms. Abdul gave public praise or adoration to Lythgoe – an executive producer on two shows she worked on – or otherwise approached him with kindness and friendliness cannot negate her claims that Lythgoe sexually assaulted or abused her.

‘The fact that a victim was friendly to their abuser in situations unrelated to the alleged sexual assault and battery does not make the assault and battery any more or less likely to have occurred.

‘Indeed, there is substantial research showing it is common for a victim to respond too their abuser in such a manner.’

Abdul first alleged that she was ‘verbally insulted and belittled by Lythgoe’ during initial meetings to join American Idol in 2001.

She said that Nigel had told her ‘she was a has been celebrity and probably wouldn’t be known by the show’s contestants despite others believing she was exactly what they were looking for.’

The two-time Emmy winner had ‘grave reservations about appearing on the show and informed her representatives about such concerns’ but both she and her team hoped that the incident was only a ‘one-time’ occurrence.

Paula claimed in court documents that the first instance of sexual assault had happened during one of American Idol’s first seasons, while on the road for regional auditions.

‘One evening, following the day’s auditions, Lythgoe and Abdul entered the elevator of the hotel where they were staying,’ the legal docs read.

‘Upon entering the elevator, Lythgoe shoved Abdul against the wall, then grabbed her genitals and breasts, and began shoving his tongue down her throat.’

The lawsuit claims that the DWTS guest judge ‘attempted to push’ Nigel away and that she hurried to her room once the elevator doors opened. She immediately reached out to her reps to inform them of the incident.

The second alleged occurrence took place during a dinner held at the former dancer-choreographer’s house, after Paula had signed a contract to appear as a judge on SYTYCD in 2015 – the same year he was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire).

Assuming the dinner was on a professional basis, Abdul attended the dinner. However, the Muppets Mayhem guest star claimed that at one point, while they were both sitting on a couch, Nigel had tried force himself on top of her.

Paula also stated in the documents that Lythgoe had also ‘attempted to kiss’ her while telling her that they would make an ‘excellent power couple.’ 

The lawsuit claims that Abdul, ‘pushed him off, explaining she was not interested in his advances, and immediately left.’

However, due to fear of ‘possible implications to her career,’ the Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers star chose to stay quiet on the incident.

In the documents, Paula additionally claimed that she had witnessed Nigel sexually assault one of her assistants.

The star is not only suing Nigel, but also 19 Entertainment and Fremantle Media North America.

‘Throughout her tenure on American Idol, Abdul not only was discriminated against in terms of compensation and benefits as compared to one of the show’s male judges and host (making nearly pennies to the dollar of what one of her male counterparts were making)…’ said her lawsuit.

‘But she was the target of constant taunts, bullying, humiliation, and harassment from Lythgoe and other executives, agents, employees, and/or representatives of the show’s producers, 19 Entertainment and Fremantle.’

In his answer to her lawsuit, Lythgoe calls Abdul a ‘well-documented fabulist, with a long history of telling wild stories that are untethered from reality and are primarily designed to attract attention and make Abdul appear to be the victim of dreadful misfortune.’

Among the online communications he included in his response was a September 12 2014 email from Abdul to him reading, in part: ‘Hi sweetheart — thank you for this lovely ‘gift.’ Please forgive me for not calling yesterday. Forever grateful to have you in my life! Love, love LOVE YOU! XO P.

Another, dated June 20, 2014, says: Thank you for the beautiful flowers — they were exquisite! But, I have to say the kicker was the birthday card last night. I am still howling! I truly appreciate our friendship and am looking forward to launching our project.’

The filing also included Abdul’s public tweets at his account, starting in 2009 and continuing through 2015 when they both worked on So You Think You Can Dance?

Abdul shared photos of the pair together and tweeted on Thanksgiving ‘I’m grateful that I met you too, Nigel! Have a very Happy Thanksgiving! xoxoP.’

Lythgoe claimed the messages ‘show how Abdul really felt about Lythgoe during and after the time she now alleges abuse occurred.’

He said that he pushed for her to be hired on Idol and SYTYCD ‘despite the opposition from other executives due to Abdul’s already well-known erratic behavior.’

He also maintained that her alleged substance abuse issues caused concern for executives on Idol, alleging: ‘At her worst, Abdul was slurring her speech, unintelligible, drooling and passing out in audition rooms, having to be carried out on two separate occasions.

Abdul has previously revealed her past dependency on painkillers. In 2009 she revealed she had been reliant on them for 12 years.

Lythgoe asserted that her credibility has been called into question on a serious issue’, the plane crash she says she survived in 1992.

‘There are no records whatsoever of the supposed plane crash,’ he said. ‘In one interview Abdul explained that she was able to keep the story under wraps with NDAs and because ‘there was no internet at the time.’ In another interview, she explained that at the time of the crash, there were ‘no computers.”

Lythgoe is asking the court to dismiss Abdul’s lawsuit and he wants her to cover his attorney fees.

Paula notably appeared as one of the original judges on American Idol from 2002 through 2009. Nigel had been one of the executive producers on the hit show.

She later became a judge on the American version of So You Think You Can Dance alongside Lythgoe during the show’s 12th season, but made her exit shortly before season 14 to focus on her tour.

Abdul made the decision to finally come forward with the lawsuit due to California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act.

The law, which was officially passed earlier this year, offers a ‘three-year window for survivors of sexual assault to file a claim and recover damages as a result of crimes that occurred on or after January 1, 2009

From January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2026, sexual assault and abuse claims, which would otherwise be barred by the statute of limitations, will be revived and officially be eligible to be brought in civil court.

The former LA Laker Girl’s successful career began as a choreographer when she was discovered by The Jacksons. She later released her debut studio album, Forever Your Girl, in 1988 – which launched her success in the music industry.

Abdul was married to Emilio Estevez from 1992 until their divorce in 1994. She later tied the knot with Brad Beckerman in 1996 until the pair divorced in 1998.

Lythgoe has two sons – Simon, 48; and Kristopher, 44 – from his 33-year marriage to Bonnie Shawe, which ended in 2007.

Jimmy AllenThe club’s former manager dropped the lawsuit against the country singer after accusing him of sexual assault and rape. We weekly can confirm.

The woman, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, dismissed her claims against Allen in Middle Tennessee District Court after suing the artist, his former management company Wide Open Music and its founder. Ash Bowersin may 2023, according to documents obtained by Us on Friday, March 15. Their new agreement was signed on Thursday, March 14.

Jane Doe said in her initial lawsuit that Allen “manipulated and used his power” to “sexually harass and abuse” her for 18 months from 2020 to 2022.

“Plaintiff expressed through words and actions that Jimmie Allen’s behavior was unwelcome, including pushing him away, sitting in a place where he could not reach her, telling him she was uncomfortable and no, and uncontrolled crying,” Jane Doe’s attorneys wrote in the complaint. “However, Allen made it clear that the plaintiff’s duty depended on her remaining silent about his conduct.”

While Allen is now free in the lawsuit, Jane Doe is still suing Wide Open Music and Bowers, claiming they knew about Allen’s alleged behavior, did nothing to protect her and fired her when she complained about it.

Allen continues to have legal troubles, as a second Jane Doe filed a lawsuit against him in June 2023 that is still ongoing. The woman claims Allen sexually assaulted her in a Las Vegas hotel room and secretly recorded it.

Jane Doe 2 detailed the July 2022 incident at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas in her lawsuit. She had “willingly accompanied Allen to the bedroom.” Even though she “repeatedly told him she didn’t want him to ejaculate inside her” because she wasn’t using birth control, Allen allegedly did so anyway. She also claimed he filmed the encounter on his phone, despite her never consenting to it being recorded.

Allen denied all allegations and said he would “put up a vigorous defense.” He sued both women, accusing Jane Doe 1 of defamation and claiming that Jane Doe 2 stole the phone he allegedly used to record her.

As a result of the lawsuits, Allen’s label, booking agency, former publicist and management company have all suspended or dropped him. In April 2023, Allen said Us that he and his wife Alexis Gale was ‘divorced’ after two years of marriage. The couple, who share three children, filed for divorce later that month but reconciled six months later.

• Do you know more? Email tips@dailymail.com

By the Australian Associated Press

Published: 04:00 EDT, March 14, 2024 | Updated: 05:09 EDT, March 14, 2024

James Marsden and other celebrities wrote letters of support for shamed Brian Peck after he was accused of the child sexual abuse of Drake Bell in 2003.

In August 2003, Nickelodeon dialogue coach Peck – now 63 – was arrested and charged with nearly a dozen counts related to allegations that he had sexually abused an unnamed minor.

Peck subsequently pleaded no contest to performing a lewd act with a 14-or 15-year-old and to oral copulation with a minor under 16 – with Bell – now 37 – claiming he was the unnamed minor who was abused by Peck aged 15 when he appeared on The Amanda Show.

Now Investigation Discovery’s docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV has unsealed 41 letters of support sent to the judge in the case, revealing Marsden was one of the most prominent figures asking for probation – rather than jail time – for Peck.

Journalist Kate Taylor notes it is is ‘unclear how much Peck’s friends knew about the charges against Peck’ when they penned the letters.

Marsden wrote in the letter seen by USWeekly: ‘I can easily say that Brian is one of the reasons why I have been as successful as I have been in this industry. I was lucky enough to have been graced with Brian’s guidance, uncommissioned guidance I might add, and support in pursuing an acting career.

Saying Peck was his ‘mentor’ he added: ‘I don’t mean to dramatize this but I am speaking wholeheartedly about a man whose heart is pure and no matter what you’re talking about, his intentions are always good. He has such an amazing capacity to care about people. This, I find, is very rare. Especially in Hollywood. Brian genuinely cares about other human beings.’

He compared Peck’s suffering after his arrest to that of ‘a hundred men and wrote: ‘When I first heard the news of Brian’s arrest I couldn’t breathe. I could not believe what was happening. It was unimaginable.

‘I’ve known Brian for 14 years and never once did I ever see any sign of him being capable of something like this. I have lived at his house for months and shared hotel rooms with him and never once did he ever make me feel compromised or uncomfortable in any way. I don’t know what it would take to have something like this occur, whatever it is, it is extremely out of character for Brian.’

Marsden was also mentioned in  X-Men producer Thomas DeSanto‘s letter of support – Peck was Marsden’s best man at his wedding to Lisa Linde in 2000.

DailyMail.com has contacted Marsden’s representative for comment. 

Taran Killam, 41, also praised Peck in a letter writing: ‘Over the years, Brian has become one of my dearest friends. I know him quite well on both a professional and personal level. Brian has to be one of the most well liked people I have ever known. I think this has to do a great deal with his generosity, genuine concern for other’s well being, and especially his honesty.

‘When I found out about Brian being arrested I was shocked. Brian is the last person I would expect to be charged with criminal activities. My first thought was, ‘This is a mistake.’ I know many of our mutual friends had similar thoughts. I have seen the effects this situation has had on Brian and I know for a fact that he regrets any mistakes made and that this is certainly not something that would ever happen again.”

‘There has yet to be a set that I work on, where someone doesn’t know Brian, and also doesn’t think the world of him. He honestly is one of the most well liked, well-respected people in this business.’

Boy Meets World co-stars Rider Strong, 44, and Will Friedle, 47, who met Peck when he guest-starred on their show also wrote letters to the judge.

One read: ‘It was extremely disturbing to learn of Brian’s arrest. Maliciousness is so antithetical to his nature, it is impossible for me to comprehend a situation that would lead him to do something illegal or even inappropriate. I immediately called him and offered whatever support I could. Of course, Brian being Brian, he had already received numerous such calls.’

Strong revealed on his  Pod Meets World podcast last month that he didn’t know about the charges against Peck – who he says lied about the abuse.

He said: ‘He didn’t say that nothing had happened. So by the time we heard about this case and knew anything about it, it was always in the context of, ‘I did this thing, I am guilty. I am going to take whatever punishment the government determines, but I’m a victim of jailbait. 

‘There was this hot guy! I just did this thing and he’s underage.’ And we bought that story line,” Strong said. “I never heard about the other things because, back then, you couldn’t Google to find out what people were being charged with. So in retrospect, he was making a plea deal and admitting one thing — which is all he admitted to us — but it looks like he was being charged with a series of crimes, which we did not know.’

Friedle said he regretted attending Peck’s sentencing,  

Friedle, meanwhile, expressed regret at attending Peck’s ‘horrifying’ sentencing, saying: ‘We weren’t told the whole story, but it doesn’t change the fact that we did it. I still can’t get the words out to describe all of the things that I’m feeling inside of myself.’

Actor Alan Thicke, who died aged 69 in 2016 said Peck was ‘highly professional and nurturing’ towards young people on set of their show Growing Pains from 1985-1992.

He wrote: ‘Because he was never inappropriate in any way around children, including my own two young sons, I was shocked and saddened to learn of the trouble he was in.

‘Knowing him as I did, I also know beyond a doubt how remorseful he is and how dedicated and focused he will be on his rehabilitation. Brian’s integrity and self-respect have always been important to him and this turn of events has been mortifying to him in ways that will only make him a better, stronger citizen in the future.’

An excerpt of a letter penned by Thicke’s Growing Pains co-star Joanna Kerns, 71, and shown on the documentary read: ‘I can only believe there must have been some extreme situation or temptation exerted upon him to influence his actions.’

Kerns later issued a statement refuting the letter saying: ‘I have now learned that my letter of support was based on complete misinformation. Knowing what I know now, I never would have written the letter.’

Kimmy Roberston, 69, wrote: ‘I believe with all my heart that Brian was pressured and pushed beyond belief before he caved in.’

While directors Rich and Beth Correll who worked with Peck on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody two years after his conviction, also supported him via letter.

In the wake of Quiet on Set the couple released a statement saying ‘they had no input or involvement in the casting of Peck on the Disney show.’

Bell has said on the docuseries how several ‘recognizable’ faces packed into the courtroom on the day of Peck’s sentencing to show their support. 

He said: ‘I addressed my statement to everyone in the room. I looked at all of them and I just said, ‘How dare you. You will forever have the memory of sitting in this courtroom and defending this person. And I will forever have the memory of the person you are defending violating me and doing unspeakable acts and crimes. And that is what I will remember.’

DailyMail.com has contacted representatives for comment. 

In October 2004, Peck was sentenced to 16 months in prison and mandated to register as a sex offender. 

Peck served as a dialogue coach on Nickelodeon’s All That and The Amanda Show, the latter featuring Bell from 1999 to 2002. 

Subsequently, Bell took the lead in his own Nickelodeon series in 2004 with Drake & Josh.

A clip from Quiet on Set teases Bell coming forward to discuss Peck. 

A press release from Investigation Discovery reads: ‘The clip reveals that former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell will be sharing publicly, for the first time, the story of the abuse he suffered at the hands of Brian Peck, his former dialogue coach who was convicted in 2004 for his crimes against Drake and ordered to register as a sex offender.’

Bell has not provided details about the nature of the abuse he endured. 

However, it is anticipated that he may reveal more when Quiet on Set airs later this month

In 2015, DailyMail.com exposed that despite his conviction, Peck continued to work on a Disney show and a high school–themed horror film.

He faced restrictions only in direct contact with children, enabling him to be hired in alternative roles, even on projects prominently involving children and teenagers.

According to court documents obtained by DailyMail.com, Peck had visited the minor actor at his home for acting coaching during the incident. He was apprehended after the young actor’s parents reported the abuse to the police.

Peck eventually entered a no-contest plea to two counts from the initial 11 charges, as the rest were dismissed.

Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, he sustained minor acting roles and worked as a dialogue coach. His last credited acting appearance, according to IMDb, was in 2018.

It remains uncertain whether those hiring Peck were aware of his status as a convicted sex offender, though his IMDb page does acknowledge his criminal conviction. 

Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV is a four-part docuseries that exposes the toxic work environment prevalent in children’s shows during the 1990s and early 2000s. 

The focus is particularly on productions associated with Dan Schneider, the creator of cherished Nickelodeon series like iCarly and Zoey 101.

Child actors and crew members previously spoke to Business Insider about disturbing sexualized scenes that Schneider wrote for some of his series, and he alleged urged his young female stars to wear revealing clothing on camera.

The showrunner was also accused of repeatedly requesting massages at work, according to a 2000 gender-discrimination and hostile-workplace lawsuit from a writer on The Amanda Show. The suit was settled out of court. 

Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV airs on March 17 and 18 on Investigation Discovery.

Earl Spencer broke down in tears as he discussed the sexual abuse he suffered as a child at boarding school with Diana’s close friend Julia Samuel.

Princess Diana’s younger brother, 59, appeared in conversation with psychotherapist Julia Samuel on her podcast Therapy Works to promote his new book A Very Private School.

Julia Samuel, 64, from London, became close to Diana after meeting her at a dinner party in 1987, and is godmother to Prince George, nine. 

Charles detailed how he attended Maidwell Hall between the ages of eight and 13 in the 1970s. 

In the book, which is published on 14 March, Charles reveals how he was molested by a female assistant matron at the age of 11 at the Northamptonshire prep school.

Describing his abuser as a ‘voracious paedophile’, Charles claims she preyed on him and other young boys, grooming and then abusing them in their dormitory beds at night. The prep school has now reported itself to the council following Earl Spencer’s claims. 

During his interview with the psychotherapist, Charles said the school ‘sewed demons into the linings of the souls’ of the abuse victims, which made them feel like ‘they were responsible’ for what had happened.

The Earl explained how he was only able to process the trauma when he tried a new form of therapy called the Hoffman process – which aims to resolve negative behavioural patterns.

He explained: ‘The penny dropped for me in my early 40s when I went to do a thing called the Hoffman process, which is really looking at your childhood and letting go of your childhood.

‘And I mentioned my years at Maidwell as a sort of sideshow actually, to the therapist who was in charge of me.’

During the session, the therapist asked Charles to tell him one thing he’d never confided in anyone before.

Diana’s brother continued: ‘I told him I’d been sexually abused as a child and then we got into the whole subject of Maidwell.’ 

Later on in the session, the therapist told Earl Spencer that the way he described the Maidwell headmaster made him believe that he had seen him as a ‘surrogate father’. 

As Charles fights back tears, Julia – who is believed to have offered advice to Meghan Markle when she struggled with her mental health during her first pregnancy – told him: ‘Oh Charles. Abuse as at its worst when it’s with people who you’re meant to be able to trust.’ 

Visibly emotional, Charles replies: ‘Yes I agree with that.’ 

Known in high society circles for her discretion, Julia has enjoyed a close relationship with the Royal Family over the years.

In her tell-all television interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, Meghan said: ‘One of the people that I reached out to, who’s continued to be a friend and confidante, was one of my husband’s mum’s best friends, one of Diana’s best friends.’ 

Later that year, the grief specialist was invited to an event the palace described as ‘a very personal moment for the family’ – the unveiling of a statue of Diana in Kensington Gardens. 

There, Ms Samuel was seen hugging Harry as it became glaringly apparent that the relationship between the brothers was already starting to fray.

She has said little about the siblings’ relationship except to say that Diana ‘would be really proud of them’. She has described her role as godmother to Prince George as ‘a great honour’, and has spoken about the gifts she brings for his birthday.

Earl Spencer continued: ‘I suppose I had to find a way through it and mine was to become very angry […] I didn’t know what was wrong but I knew something was really really wrong.’

Detailing how he processed the sexual abuse, Charles added: ‘For me, it was so confusing.

‘I couldn’t put a thread through it because I didn’t know what it was […] I think I instinctively knew it was wrong but I didn’t know how wrong. I didn’t know sexual abuse existed.’

Maidwell Hall is ten miles from Althorp House, the family seat of the Spencers, where Diana is buried. A feeder for elite private schools including Eton and Winchester, it only admitted boys until 2010 and currently charges fees of up to £31,700 a year. 

Elsewhere in the interview, Charles describes the headmaster as a ‘terrifying, pulsing menace’ who ensured that no governors or parents ever entered the school premises.  

Charles said: ‘The whole school predicated on the demand he had to have at least six of us 70 odd boys delivered to him for beating on a nightly basis when he would be physically aroused.’

In his book, Charles details how one boy was beaten unconscious by a member of staff while another almost drowned in the school swimming pool. 

Following his harrowing experience at the school when he arrived aged eight, Earl Spencer has now called on children that young to never be sent to boarding school. 

Speaking on Lorraine Kelly’s show yesterday, he said: ‘When I went for my first night at this school I had never stayed away from home without a family member and the horror of it – I had nightmares for six months before going because I couldn’t aged seven and then eight get it into my head that this was going to be the case.

‘But being sent at seven or eight is terrible and I remember there was one boy who went when I was there and he was looking for his parents the first day. 

‘They hadn’t told him they were going to leave him at the school. So he thought he was going on a trip with his parents and then he started looking for them but they had gone. They had gone home and he wasn’t going to see them for five weeks.

‘I think being sent away at a very delicate age such as seven or eight is really – I don’t support that at all. 

‘I have seven children and two of them have chosen to go to boarding school in their mid-teens. And that is fine – their decision. And if they decided it wasn’t for them, they knew there was an exit plan.’

Earl Spencer also believes due to his young age, he was less likely to report the abuse to an adult once it started.

He said: ‘I think kids at that age, no matter their background, have no context for their life, they just think this is what their parents expect and this is the framework they have been given. 

‘I found with all my friends none of them told their parents.’

‘And I must say another thing, coming from the rather uptight background that a lot of us came from back in the 70s we didn’t have conversations with our parents on deep levels. 

‘In fact one of my friends said his abiding memory of being sent to this place aged eight was how strange it was to be in a car with his father because they had never had a conversation before.’ 

Earl Spencer, who joined the school in 1972, recalls how boys were told to refer to all female staff as ‘Please’ instead of ‘Miss’ – a rule that was meant to instil good manners, but which Earl Spencer believed was ‘deeply odd’. 

Earl Spencer’s latest comment on the topic of boarding schools comes after Maidwell Hall announced it had reported itself to the local authority designated officer.

In a lengthy statement the school said: ‘It is sobering to read about the experiences Charles Spencer and some of his fellow alumni had at the school, and we are sorry that was their experience.

‘It is difficult to read about practices which were, sadly, sometimes believed to be normal and acceptable at that time.

‘Within education today, almost every facet of school life has evolved significantly since the 1970s. At the heart of the changes is the safeguarding of children, and promotion of their welfare.

‘Although we have not directly received any claims from ex-pupils, considering what has been reported, the school has followed the statutory process and made a referral to the LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer).

‘We would encourage anyone with similar experiences to come forward and contact either Maidwell Hall, the LADO or the police.’

A spokesman from the NSPCC praised Earl Spencer for bravely speaking about the issue and urged anyone with concerns about a child being sexually abused to call their helpline.

Earl Spencer has also been keen to stress that he was not alone in his treatment at the school.

He told Lorraine: ‘I have to stress this is not all about me. I look at my friends from this school and contemporaries from schools that were equally bad, and can see the effect on them psychologically is so hard.

‘This school was run by very bad people who were indulging their very worst fantasies with little boys.

‘From the age of nine I was desperate for some female love and attention. Under our beds we had metal chamber pots and I used to force myself to vomit in those and then present them to a female member of staff in the morning. 

‘I now realise it was so she would put an arm around me and care but I was just treated as this sort of annoying hypochondriac really. But if I look back now I probably had a form of bulimia, but I wasn’t diagnosed so I can’t be sure.

‘The good thing is they could plonk me anywhere in the world and I would survive because I went through this. But at the same time something small but important in me died during those five years in that school. 

‘Because that is the only way a sensitive person – a normal person – could cope really.’

The photo will cause a lump in the throat of hundreds of thousands of Britons who received a ‘privileged’ education at boarding school. The young boy, stiff and unsmiling, in a uniform tie and an oversized suit, stands by the family car, about to leave for his first day. Sister and babysitter look on proudly.

The brand new suitcase bears the name C. Spencer, the sister is Diana, later Princess of Wales. It’s 1972 and Charles is only eight.

If he looks rather grim for a child going on a Harry Potter-style adventure, it is because, as he writes, he is very scared: ‘I had only been away from home for one night and before that I had been sleepless for six months. to go.’

He was right to be nervous. Spencer attended Maidwell Hall, an elite all-boys school that would set him on the path of becoming the eldest male child of a grand and aristocratic family: Eton, Oxford and later, after his father’s death, the House of Lords. .

But that day in 1972 was the beginning of a five-year horror, a “hellish experience” that, Spencer writes in his new book, would destroy two of his marriages and predispose him to lifelong depression.

The main stories from Spencer’s brave and furious memoir A Very Private School – exclusive extracts of which were published yesterday in the Mail on Sunday – are of course about the sexual abuse he and other boys experienced at Maidwell Hall.

There was the assistant matron who kissed and sexually abused him in his bed from the age of 11. The woman, twenty, was a serial predator.

Other boys, none older than thirteen, were brought to her bed and forced to have sex with her. Spencer says she emotionally manipulated them all – to the point where he cut his arm with a pocket knife to get more of her attention.

Boys were vulnerable to such a monster because, sent away from their families, they were a textbook example of neglect: children in desperate need of love. The man in charge at Maidwell – the director John ‘Jack’ Porch – was in loco parentis, the surrogate father. But he was a sadist who derived sexual pleasure from his brutal abuse of Spencer and the other children.

There is more. Spencer writes about the “anxious despair” he felt every day at school, about shooting himself in the foot so he wouldn’t have to return at the end of the holidays, about feeling abandoned by his parents to be because he wasn’t good enough. And the lifelong emotional damage that resulted from it.

This should give pause to all the parents who still pay to send their children away from home to be cared for by those who don’t love them – more than 70,000, even today.

“Some things died for me between my eighth and thirteenth birthdays, when I was in the care of Jack Porch. . .’ writes Spencer. “Innocence, trust, joy – all were trampled and diminished.”

These words stand out to me because very similar things happened at my Eton-feeder prep school, Ashdown House, in the 1970s. I started at the small boarding school on the same day as Viscount Linley, Queen Elizabeth’s cousin; Three years later, Boris Johnson showed up.

Sexual violence by the teachers was common. One of them is now in prison and another is being extradited from South Africa to face multiple charges of child abuse in Ashdown and elsewhere. I was sexually fondled by two others: the math teacher and the French teacher. So did the journalist Sir Nicholas Coleridge, who would soon become the next provost of Eton College.

The two great headmasters who presided over Ashdown in those years very quickly resorted to violence; stupidity in class or talking after lights out could lead to being viciously beaten with a bamboo stick. That was legal, of course.

Even more culpable, they looked away even when faced with complaints from parents about the sexual predators on their staff. David Linley, who was deeply miserable at school, was withdrawn by his parents mid-year. But Ashdown and Maidwell Hall are not exceptional.

What happened there, the total failure of child protection, the cover-up of abusers, was ridiculously common. In 2014 I wrote in a newspaper about Ashdown and the culture that tolerated sexual abuse, neglect and cruelty in private schools.

My email inbox was then flooded for months with stories from others about sexual abuse and violence at boarding schools, both state and private. Many had never talked about their shame and pain before.

In a book, and on radio and TV, I have since investigated some of these allegations, most recently at Scotland’s Edinburgh Academy and Fettes College. Broadcaster Nicky Campbell subsequently made public the violence and sexual attacks on him and his friends at the Academy by staff in the 1970s.

I have registered every credible and serious complaint. There are now almost 1,200 allegations in my database, with 490 schools and more than 300 staff members named. Most complaints concern male predators, but there are a significant number of women who have physically and psychologically abused students in both boys’ and girls’ schools.

Maidwell Hall appears in the spreadsheet. Former poet laureate Andrew Motion, who was at Maidwell a decade before Spencer, has told how he was sexually abused by an English teacher there.

I have received more stories from former students about the ‘sadism’ of principal Jack Porch, and about sexual relations between the boys at school, including rape.

That’s no surprise either. One of the disturbing consequences of sexual abuse of young children is that they can become ‘hypersexual’ and in their confusion seek more experiences. In the book, Spencer describes how he lost his virginity at the age of 12 to an Italian prostitute whom he paid with his pocket money.

When I went to Eton after high school, like Spencer, it was in a sexually charged environment, with a culture where younger boys were exploited by older boys – and not without their own predatory teachers.

What is clear is that this was all an open secret in the upper class from the 19th century onwards. That the schools were harsh and cruel was accepted as necessary – the reinforcement that children need. It had worked for generations to produce Britain’s leaders.

The schools were also known to attract and tolerate predators. Evelyn Waugh wrote a novel, Decline And Fall, in which one is a comic character. “Pederasts are actually very good teachers,” was the wisdom.

Spencer has a lot in common with others who suffered at school. Like many, shame kept him silent; it was thirty years before he told others what happened to him. The matron is now said to be in her late sixties. She has not been prosecuted.

The complex PTSD that can result from neglect and abuse over an extended period of time in childhood is well studied; There is a recognized specialty in psychology called the boarding school syndrome. After all, almost a million living British people went to boarding school, and my research shows that a third were unhappy, or worse.

‘Emotional dysregulation’, feelings of guilt and shame and periods of extreme depression, drug or alcohol use are common symptoms. In addition to the former residents are the survivors of state care.

Many of the bordals and orphanages were deliberately run along the lines of ‘public schools’. And abuse and cover-up were common there, just as managers at the NHS and the BBC concealed or ignored suspicions about Jimmy Savile.

This is all ancient history, say today’s schools. Maidwell Hall – it still stands and now costs more than £30,000 a year – told the Mail: ‘School life has evolved considerably since the 1970s. At the heart of the changes is the protection of children and the promotion of their well-being.’

But these days I get reports from parents of children in private schools talking about security protocols that haven’t worked, and that abuses and staff failures have been ignored or covered up. There are still 70,000 boarders in fee-paying schools. Our failing state care and detention systems house more than 100,000 more children. Are we sure they are safe?

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), funded by the government, completed seven years of work (at a cost of £180 million) and published its recommendations in October 2022. It concluded that institutions caring for children needed to do much more their safety.

Incredibly, in Britain there is still no legal requirement to report an adult suspected of abusing a child. Last month, the government finally announced legislative changes in response to IICSA. “We are working hard to get mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse into law,” said Home Secretary James Cleverly.

Cleverly’s proposals are being watered down. Campaigners say they will not even bring UK child protection rules up to the standards of most other countries. Therefore, what Charles Spencer writes is not just history; it is an urgent message for parents and anyone who cares about children today.

Alex Renton is a journalist and presenter. His book Stiff Upper Lip: Secrets, Crimes And The Schooling Of A Ruling Class is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson.