Drake Bell is denying abuse allegations made by his ex-girlfriend. Melissa Lingafelt posted a video to TikTok about the actor and alleged that the former Nickelodeon star was both verbally and physically abusive. Some of the things she describes in the video date back more than a decade. People on social media immediately rushed in to react to these strong claims from Lingafelt. Fans of Drake and Josh were probably not expecting all of that when they saw the star’s name trending early Thursday. After all of the allegations came to light, Bell’s representative offered a statement to Variety. The actor is saying that he never abused her and is reviewing legal options after seeing the video.
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“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 begins.
“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,” it continues. “But I cannot and will not allow these offensive and defamatory allegations to go unchallenged and I am reviewing my legal options.”
In the video Wednesday Lingafelt put almost everything out there. Former fans of the Nickelodeon star were outraged by her story.
“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 I went through,” she began. “It wasn’t until recently that I actually realized that abuse is 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.”
“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 into physical — hitting, throwing, everything,” Lingafelt continued. “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.”
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