Drake Bell’s ex-girlfriend, Melissa Lingafelt, who records music under the name Jimi Ono, has accused the former teen star of verbal and physical abuse. In a confessional video on TikTok, she wrote, “This is my truth. I hope this message reaches young girls, and that no one has to go through what I did. #2020survivor.” The two dated from August 2006 to February 2009, according to People. Lingafelt fills the video with photos of her and Bell from that period, while narrating:
First off, 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. 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. When I say “verbal abuse,” I mean imagine the worst type of verbal abuse you could ever imagine, and that was what I got. It then turned into physical: hitting, throwing, everything. At the pinnacle of it, he [dragged] me down the stairs of our house in 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.
In a TikTok preceding this one, Lingafelt wrote, “Think you can hurt my feelings? I lived with and dated an alcoholic, abusive Drake Bell from 16–19.” After posting her confessional on August 12, Lingafelt has posted more TikToks sharing DMs from witnesses to her alleged abuse and other victims coming forward with their own stories. One anonymous message accuses Bell of statutory rape, saying, “I met Drake in early 2007 when I was 16. He was dating you at the time. Didn’t stop him from fucking my 15-year-old friend — who was a virgin. I believe you. And I am so sorry for what you endured. And what my friend endured. Because that was statutory rape.” Another also accuses him of sleeping with a 15-year-old when he was 20. Another anonymous message says:
Here goes nothing … a couple years ago drake was performing at a benefit concert for my high school back then I was in the eighth grade. The entire concert Drake wasn’t who you’d expect him to be like. after the concert All I remember is that I met drake and he raped me. I was in fucking 8th grade this guy that I had idolized as a kid Was a rapist. He was a fucking sicko.
In another TikTok, Lingafelt shares a DM conversation between her and another of Bell’s ex-girlfriends, Paydin Layne LoPachin, who dated Bell for five years. In the DM conversation, LoPachin reaches out to Lingafelt to say, “I will stand by your side and back you up as I went through the same horrific verbal, physical, and mental abuse.” She writes that she was “manipulated and brainwashed,” and when Lingafelt replies, “He had sex with hundreds of underage girls,” LoPachin answers, “YES!!” LoPachin also writes, “There were so many days where I thought … Melissa went through this and she got out!!” and “he called me a cunt and LOVED to call me a whore.”
Another one of Bell’s ex-girlfriends, Gillian Leos, reached out to support Lingafelt and share her own experience, writing, “I know this to be true from personal experience. We went to High School together & dated from 2001–2005/06 from the age of 16 to about 21 … Thank you for speaking out. I wish I had more receipts. I have some photos … unfortunately no voicemails or txt bc he broke every phone I had back then. Like you I have many friends & witnesses to attest what he put me through…” adding, “He is a narcissistic sociopath & I know there are more of us out there.”
Bell replied to the allegations, telling People that he “‘never abused my ex-girlfriend or did so many of the other things Melissa falsely claimed on her TikTok video.’”
