Media often keep track of some child actors whose careers and personal lives went downhills as their fame dissipated. One such former child actor and hit Nickelodeon show Drake & Josh fame, Drake Bell has been creating buzz for all the wrong reasons lately. According to Page Six, the American actor and musician apparently found out about his divorce along with the rest of the world. The troubled star learned that his estranged wife Janet Von Schmeling has filed for a divorce after the news of it broke online through TMZ on April 20, 2023.

“I found out my wife filed for divorce from TMZ,” he tweeted on April 21. But strangely enough, he attached a YouTube video link to his latest song Going Away to the tweet. He also urged his followers to check the song out. The 36-year-old Bell sings about starting a new life in his newly-released track with Von Schmeling and their 2-year-old son. “I’m moving my wife and son out to the island,” he croons in the chorus. “Start a new life where the weather is nice all day.”

The music video is choke full of references to Hollywood and is shot inside an airplane set. Bell sings that he is “done with the f–king city” and “done f–king sitting pretty.” He also refers to himself as a prey who is desperate to escape from a predator. The tweet and music video have left people wondering if he was just making things up to promote his new song or not. But a part of Bell's fanbase dropped in to support him in the comment section and showered hate on TMZ for invading his privacy like the organization usually does.

In January 2023, the outlet exclusively reported that Bell and Von Schmeling had officially separated and the actress has moved to Florida with their son. Despite staying away from the spotlight post his divorce, the actor caught the media attention once again when he was reported missing and “endangered”  in Florida on April 13. It happened just a day after Bell had taken his son to Sea World. Thankfully, he was found safe a few hours later after which he tweeted: “You leave your phone in the car and don’t answer for the night, and this?”

Bell was already going through a rough time after getting arrested in Ohio and charged with the attempted endangering of children and disseminating matters harmful to juveniles in June 2021. He was sentenced to two years probation and 200 hours of community service, per The U.S Sun. According to PAPER Magazine, the controversial actor has been facing online abuse from netizens while suffering through mental health struggles ever since and has even threatened to "take his own life."

When a Twitter follower called him "a pedo” earlier this week, the Drake & Josh alum responded in a now-deleted tweet: “Do a second of research. This is what I have to live with every day they are literally going to kill me. Blood on their hands." Well, it might have been a less-than-ideal way to know that your estranged wife has filed for divorce but we can hope the news aids the publicity of Bell's new song and hopefully, he can recover from his mental health struggles.