NEWSDrake Bell Denies Verbal and Physical Abuse Allegations By Ex-Girlfriend Melissa Lingafelt
Drake Bell has denied abuse allegations by former girlfriend Melissa Lingafelt.
Lingafelt, who goes by the name Jimi Ono on social media, spoke out against Bell in a TikTok video on Wednesday, accusing the actor of both verbal and physical abuse during their relationship.
In a statement to PEOPLE, the Nickelodeon star said that he “never abused my ex-girlfriend or did so many of the other things Melissa falsely claimed on her TikTok video.”
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In her TikTok video, Lingafelt who started dating Bell when she was 16 - alleged the abuse started about a year into their relationship.
She began her video by saying: “First off I’d like to start out by 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.”
“I moved in with him, I was singing. It wasn’t until about a year when the verbal abuse started,” Lingafelt, now 30, recounts.
“And when I say verbal abuse, imagine the worst type of verbal abuse you could ever imagine, and that was what I got.”
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The singer and actress then claimed the verbal abuse turned into physical abuse.
“It then turned to physical - hitting, throwing, everything,” Lingafelt continued, accusing Bell, now 34, of dragging her down the stairs of the home they shared together at one point in their relationship, which lasted from August 2006 to February 2009.
“At the pinnacle of it, he drug sic me down the stairs of our house in Los Feliz.”
“My face hit every step on the way down. I have photos of this,” the musician said.
Lingafelt did not share the photos on social media Wednesday.
“I don’t even want to get into the underage girls thing,” she added. “I mean I will, but I’m scared.”
In subsequent TikTok videos, the actress shared screenshots of direct message conversations that she said she received from others after sharing her story.
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In one of the messages, the writer - who name was concealed - accused Bell of having sex with a 15-year-old when he was 20.
The former Miss Teen USA competitor took to Instagram and shared that friends of hers at the time were aware of the abuse she says she suffered at the hands of Bell.
“Everyone that really knows me and has been a friend of mine for the past 15 years, knows all too well of the abuse that Drake Bell put me through,” she wrote.
“I have so many witnesses, I have photos, it was my life. If you don’t believe me, it is clear to me what type of person you are, and I don’t need that on my side.”
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“Nobody wants attention from abuse!!!!!!!” she continued.
“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.”
Bell responded to the shocking claims in a statement to PEOPLE: “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,” Bell says.
“But that is it.”
