Josh Peck's Tragic True Life Story

"Turner and Hooch" star Josh Peck rose to fame in the early 2000s, first for playing various characters on "The Amanda Show" before taking on his career-defining role as Josh Nichols in "Drake and Josh." The series ran from 2004 to 2007 and spawned two spin-off films. Peck also branched out into film, voicing the possum Eddie in the "Ice Age" sequels before guest-starring on other Nickelodeon shows like "iCarly" and "Victorious" in 2009 and 2011, respectively.

Over the years, Peck's star has continued to rise, culminating in the New York City native starring opposite Chris Hemsworth in the 2012 action film "Red Dawn" and bagging guest roles in popular comedy series like "The Mindy Project" and "The Big Bang Theory." However, Peck's life was not as picture-perfect as it looked from the outside. In his 2022 memoir, Peck gave an unfiltered look at the struggles he's experienced, including his serious drug addiction, which began while he was filming "Drake and Josh." "I don't think a lot of people know that about me," Peck told Insider at the time of the book's release, explaining that there's a lot about his private life he's never shared before — until now.

Peck's now over a decade into his sobriety and tries to live a positive life focused on helping others, having gratitude, and celebrating his changed life and his big wins — like his cameo in Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer." But it's not been easy. Keep reading for all the details of Josh Peck's tragic true-life story.

Josh Peck's career in the entertainment industry first began when he was 10 years old. Unlike many child actors he didn't start out by appearing in commercials, but kicked off his career doing stand-up comedy, as Peck explained on the podcast "About Last Night."

Aside from having a passion for comedy and the arts, part of Peck's decision to pursue stand-up was to combat the bullying he experienced as a child. He admitted to Rey that he'd been the target of cruel weight-related and body-shaming jokes for most of his early life. "I got crushed my whole life. [Kids are] the meanest," he said on "About Last Night." Peck also revealed to People that at that time in his life he had a problem with food addiction, often overeating: "I used food and drugs to numb my feelings," he said, adding, "Comedy was my natural defense mechanism." Comedy helped him by allowing him to be completely immersed in something else. 

When Peck's career moved from New York to Los Angeles, he continued to feel this way. "There was a place for the chubby, funny guy ... I felt like I was living up to this thing that I always wanted," Peck explained on "About Last Night." However, off the screen, the bullying continued into his teen years.

As a teenager, Josh Peck often held himself back from participating in social events because he didn't feel comfortable within himself. His weight contributed to this, and he thought that losing some of it would change things. Peck revealed that at age 17, he weighed over 300 pounds, which is when he began his weight loss journey and lost over 100 pounds in a year. His mindset was an important factor in achieving his goal, and he was focused on weight loss for health reasons and to give him more room to evolve as an actor, because he didn't want to be pigeonholed as the big funny guy. It took a vigorous exercise regime and restrictions on his diet, which ultimately helped him get a handle on his food addiction and overeating, but it wasn't an easy process. "It was just grit," Peck admitted to Men's Health.

However, when Peck did start to see the kinds of physical changes in his body that he'd hoped for, it didn't automatically fix all his problems. "I had lost all this weight and for the first time in my life I was in control of my eating ... things were looking good for me, but my mind hadn't caught up yet," Peck admitted in his book (via Parade). Sadly, this mental struggle quickly sent the actor down a dark path.

Josh Peck's mother, Barbara Peck, was a single mom who worked hard to help her son achieve great career success, even moving then from New York to Los Angeles so he could work for Nickelodeon. But while his comedy skills almost surely made her proud, Peck knew she wouldn't approve when he started taking drugs in 2005. It's only now, looking back, that he can appreciate how those events played out from his mother's perspective. Reflecting on the "Canceled" podcast, he admitted: "I can look back on that now and go, 'Oof' ... I just felt like a cliché. And I was breaking my mom's heart."

It took some time before Peck realized how destructive his behavior really was. For a long time, he saw drugs and alcohol as an appealing escape. "I had this illusion of becoming more confident and attractive when I was partaking. I was trying to quiet that voice that woke me up every morning and told me I wasn't enough," he recalled to People. Eventually, however, it started to affect his career, and he found himself with a pretty poor reputation. That marked a turning point in Peck's life: "I had worked so hard for this thing and I was getting very close to losing it."

Going to rehab and getting sober involves a lot of reflection and inner exploration — at least it did for Josh Peck. The actor took the time to really understand the root of his addiction and ultimately learned some hard truths about himself in the process.

Speaking to People to promote his memoir, he analyzed why he turned to drugs in the first place. "I was always looking for something outside to fix my insides," he said. "But eventually I realized that whether my life was beyond my wildest dreams or a total mess, it didn't change the temperature of what was going on in my mind. I knew that nothing in the outside world would make me feel whole," Peck added.

The actor opened up about this to Insider, too, telling the outlet that part of his problem stemmed from his dad choosing not to be in his life. Peck said that he often felt like he had something to prove. "When you have a parent who's absent in your youth, it makes you feel like anything is possible and nothing is secure," he explained. However, once Peck came to terms with that, he did the work he needed to do to heal.

Despite beginning his career in the entertainment industry as a pre-teen, Josh Peck has always been worried about money. During an appearance on "The Diary of a CEO," Peck clarified that his days on Nickelodeon in no way afforded him the opportunity to be set for life. "We made about $100,000 a year for the four years we were making ['Drake and Josh'], which is great money and a lovely middle-class lifestyle, but no one would assume that once you stopped working that you never had to work again," Peck revealed.

Even now, Peck admitted, "I'm as much, you know, worried about next year's financial status as anyone else because I don't have that security." Not having a lot of financial security growing up meant that money has always been at the forefront of his mind, especially now that he has a family to take care of. Peck got involved in the SAG-AFTRA protests because of this, noting on Bartlett's podcast that residual checks were not even a thing when he was a kid.

In today's ever-changing media landscape, Peck has looked to other mediums to make money, transitioning solely from acting to become a podcast host and YouTuber. This has afforded him the opportunity to get involved with brand partnerships and sponsorship deals. He told CNBC a lesson he's recently learned is "don't have all your eggs in one basket."