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Read An Exclusive Timothy Heller Interview

by Annie Gallo

Timothy Heller, fellow singer and former friend of Melanie Martinez shared her story on Twitter Monday afternoon of alleged abuse that occurred in June 2015. Heller talked to The Fresh Committee about her experience coming forward and what led her to that point.

When I wrote this story about my assault, I initially wasn’t going to make the abuser. But I think it’s important for you all to know this is about Melanie Martinez pic.twitter.com/4PQ5oNI2s9 — Timothy Heller (@timethyheller) December 4, 2017

The full story comes after Heller Tweeted Nov 17: “What if I have my own story of abuse but I’m scared to ruin the person’s life and I still love them in a f–ked up way and the public really really loves them.”

According to Heller just 20 minutes after posting that tweet Martinez reached out after they hadn’t spoke in a year. Heller started crying and blocked her number, which led Martinez to try to contact Heller’s boyfriend just to get in touch with Heller.

Heller talked to The Fresh Committee about why she decided to finally come forward with the full story and why she name Melanie Martinez in her tweets.

“I was in denial for a long time that my friend did this to me. I really loved her! So part of me was still protecting her. I didn’t do this to hurt her. But I decided to name her based on what her fanbase is like. These are young children, who were looking up to her as someone who is there for them with their struggles with mental illness and depression. As someone who struggles with mental illness first hand, I felt that I could no longer stay quiet about this. I know that now a lot of them are in denial and are choosing to not believe me, but I was in the same type of denial. I loved her too,” she explained.

After calling out Martinez for the alleged abuse many fans were quick to defend their idol, while others sent messages of support to Timothy Heller. Melanie Martinez tweeted this about 12 hours after the allegations surfaced:



“I have been keeping this secret for a long time. It took a lot of preparation for me to get enough strength to actually let people know. I go to weekly therapy and my therapist has been so immensely helpful. I struggled for a while with feelings of guilt, and how her fans would see me, and I decided this was too important to be quiet about. I think Mental Health awareness is so important and I decided to take this as an opportunity to reach victims that have gone through similar things that I did,” Heller said.

Right now Heller is trying to stay positive and block out the negativity. She explained that she has an amazing support system between her boyfriend, friends, and family. Most of the response has been positive, but Heller does understand why people are so quick to defend Martinez because she was in denial for a while too.

“I hope that my experience can be a story that starts a conversation about Women on Women abuse,” Heller notes.

“I hope that people realize that anyone can abuse anyone, regardless of gender. That if you were assaulted, even by a woman, your experience is valid. Also I hope people get a clearer idea on what consent is, and while I did say no, NOT saying no does not equal consent.”

According to Heller, Martinez has not reached out again regarding the tweets or allegations.

Keep an eye out for more updates as this story continues.