Former Nickelodeon star Emma Roberts was “completely horrified” by the allegations made in ID’s docuseries “Quiet on Set,” but says she herself was protected during her time at the network.
The 33-year-old “Madame Web” actress — who starred on Nick’s “Unfabulous” for its three-season run from 2004 to 2007 — spoke to Variety about the claims made against former producer Dan Schneider and others at the network, including incidents of sexual assault.
“I was completely horrified and shocked because that was not my experience,” said the “Scream Queens” alum. “It made me really, really, really sad that that was happening to people that I literally saw often and had no idea. … That documentary really kept me up at night.”
Roberts — the daughter of actor Eric Roberts and niece of Julia Roberts — implied she was protected in part because “Unfabulous” had a female showrunner, which “back then was not very common.”
She also suggested her mother’s consistent presence on the set may have shielded her from more problematic goings-on.
“My mom was with me 24/7,” she said. “I would be like, ‘You don’t have to be here all the time,’ but she was like, ‘I do actually. I’m not letting you out of my sight. You’re not going to a fitting by yourself when you’re 13 years old.’”
“Quiet on Set,” which hit Investigation Discovery and Max this spring, centered on allegations of inappropriate and abusive behavior leveled against Schneider, who created the network’s heavy hitters like “All That,” “The Amanda Show,” and “Drake & Josh.”
The crimes of former dialogue coach Brian Peck, who was convicted for sexual assault in 2004, were also a large focus of the series.
Multiple Nickelodeon veterans, including Ariana Grande and Steve Burns of “Blue’s Clues,” have recently broken their silence on the series.
“There’s not a word for how devastating that is to hear about,” Grande said last month. “I think that the environment needs to be made safer if kids are going to be acting. I think there should be therapists, I think there should be parents allowed to be wherever they want to be.”
