Drake Bell is denying his ex-girlfriend’s allegations of abuse. On Wednesday, Melissa Lingafelt took to TikTok to accuse the actor of verbal and physical abuse throughout the time they dated and lived together, more than 10 years ago.
In a statement to Variety, Bell, through his rep, denied Lingafelt’s allegations.
“I never abused my ex-girlfriend or did so many of the other things Melissa falsely claimed on her TikTok video. As our relationship ended — more than a decade ago — we, unfortunately, both called each other terrible names, as often happens when couples are breaking up. But that is it,” the statement read. “Clearly, Melissa still felt close enough to me just last year that she was comfortable reaching out to ask me to provide her with financial support during a tough time (which I did).”
“I do not know if today’s behavior is some kind of misguided quest for more money or attention,” the statement continued. “But I cannot and will not allow these offensive and defamatory allegations to go unchallenged and I am reviewing my legal options.”
In her TikTok video, Lingafelt, who goes by Jimi Ono on the social media platform, spoke in a voice over as photos of her and Bell flashed on screen.
“First, I would like to start out with saying I don’t really care if anyone believes me as this is my story and my life and something that I went through,” she said. “It wasn’t until recently that I actually realized that abuse isn’t something that all women have to go through.”
“When I started dating Drake, I was 16. I was home-schooled, I moved in with him, I was singing,” she continued. “It wasn’t until about a year when the verbal abuse started. And when I say verbal abuse, imagine the worst type of verbal abuse you could ever imagine, and that was what I got.”
From there, Lingafelt claimed that the alleged verbal abuse “turned into physical — hitting, throwing, everything.”
“At the pinnacle of it, he drug me down the stairs of our house in Los Feliz. My face hit every step on the way down. I have photos of this,” she alleged. “I don’t even want to get into the underage girls thing. I mean I will, but I’m scared.”
“This is my truth. I hope this message reaches young girls, and that no one has to go through what I did,” Lingafelt captioned her post.
In a second TikTok video, which was set to The Beatles’ 1965 track, “Help!,” Lingafelt posted what appears to be a screenshot of a text message between her and an unidentified person.
In Lingafelt’s message, she claimed that a friend of Bell’s “tried to discredit my story,” adding that the person allegedly said “he’s changed and it was a long time ago.” Lingafelt also alleged that Bell was “DMing me trying to flirt” a few months ago.
The unidentified person Lingafelt was texting wrote that they were “so proud” of her for coming forward, before recalling alleged incidents between her and Bell.
“I remember you telling me everything you mentioned in those vids. I remember the pics. I remember the physical fights. I remember him throwing you in a bathtub and scalding you with water,” the person wrote. “I remember him breaking all your antiques and I also remember calling the cops on him and having to stay at Molly’s house until s**t fizzled over.”
“I have witnesses,” Lingafelt captioned the post.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential.
