Drake Bell's Ex-Girlfriend Melissa Lingafelt Has Accused Him of Abuse, and He Denies It
Melissa Lingafelt accused her ex-boyfriend Drake Bell of abuse.
Melissa posted a series of TikToks detailing the alleged abuse.
Drake has since denied her claims and said he is seeking legal counsel.
In a series of TikToks over the past day, Melissa Lingafelt, who goes by the stage name Jimi Ono, detailed allegations of abuse by her ex-boyfriend and former Nickelodeon actor, Drake Bell.
Melissa began her "storytime" series with a message that said, "Think you can hurt my feelings? I lived with and dated an alcoholic, abusive Drake Bell from 16-19." In a second post, she said:
"First off I'd 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. 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 homeschooled, I moved in with him, I was singing. 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. It then turned to physical—hitting, throwing, everything. At the pinnacle of it, he drug [sic] me down the stairs of our house on Los Feliz. My face hit every step on the way down. I have photos of this. I don't even want to get into the underage girls thing. I mean I will, but I'm scared."
Her following TikToks included screenshots of messages from followers who also accused Drake of abuse.
On Instagram, Melissa wrote that many of her friends at the time were aware of the instances she referenced and added, "Nobody wants attention from abuse!!!!!!! I hope this gives girls the strength to come out about their experiences with him, because I know for a fact he has hundreds of victims."
In a statement to People, Drake admitted to calling Melissa "terrible names" but denied her claims, saying he "never abused my ex-girlfriend or did so many of the other things Melissa falsely claimed on her TikTok video." He added, "I cannot and will not allow these offensive and defamatory allegations to go unchallenged and I am reviewing my legal options."
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, text LOVEIS to 22522, or visit thehotline.org.
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