'Saved by the Bell' stars Mario Lopez and Mark-Paul Gosselaar recall 'shady' photographer: 'That was inappropriate'

Three decades after "Saved by the Bell" put Mario Lopez and Mark-Paul Gosselaar on the front covers of countless teen magazines, the former co-stars reflected on an "inappropriate" encounter that has stuck with them through the years.

Gosselaar recently stopped by "Access Daily," where he and Lopez joked about their sitcom days and an upcoming reboot of the show. Mid-interview, although the tone was lighthearted, the two recalled an alarming incident from their early teen years and indicated that their parents were too afraid to take any retaliatory action.

As Gosselaar poked fun at Lopez for constantly showing off his built physique, Lopez countered that there are photoshoot images where "we both have our shirt off."

"But who told us to do that? Why would they tell us to do that?" Gosselaar said.

"We're 15 years old, there's a shady photographer that's asking us — that dude was shady," Lopez said. "That was inappropriate."

"Seriously," Gosselaar added as co-host Kit Hoover started to respond. "We've got to ask questions. We need to do an investigation. We need to investigate this stuff, because how does this happen? We're 15 years old, and all of a sudden the guy goes, you know, 'Let's turn the fan on. Can you guys open your shirts?'"

"That's a true story," Lopez said.

"Where were our parents? Where was everybody?" Gosselaar continued, which prompted Lopez to note that both men have immigrant parents — Gosselaar's are Dutch, Lopez's are Mexican. As immigrants, their parents didn't want to be "making waves," Gosselaar said.

Gosselaar then pointed out, "We were sexualized at that young age and we didn't think anything of it."

Access declined to provide further comment.

"Saved by the Bell" premiered in 1989 and ran through 1993.