Last week, Lemonheads frontman Evan Dando was accused of sending unsolicited explicit videos to a fan. Tony Ortega, the last editor-in-chief for the Village Voice during my time at the paper, did the reporting in his newsletter The Underground Bunker, a newsletter otherwise dedicated to exposing Scientology. The unnamed woman and her husband reported that Dando sent her video files of himself masturbating after an otherwise innocuous Twitter conversation, and Ortega verified those video files. Since then, Dando has reportedly been hospitalized, and his wife claims that he was in the midst of a mental health episode characterized by drug-fueled self-sabotage.
After the accusations came out last week, the Lemonheads cancelled a planned European tour, and a spokesman told Variety, “Evan Dando has long struggled with mental health issues dating back to his childhood. He’s been admitted to a local hospital where he’s receiving comprehensive help from experienced doctors and mental health professionals.” Meanwhile, two more women have stepped forward to accuse Dando of similar behavior.
In a follow-up Underground Bunker post, Tony Ortega shares accounts from two more anonymous women. One of those women allegedly knew Dando socially on Martha’s Vineyard, where he lived before moving to Brazil. She says that she never dated Dando and that he started sending her explicit videos and images in 2016 and continued after she pleaded for him to stop: “I ended up having to shut down all of my social media in 2017 because of it. But then he somehow got my email account that was associated with one of my kids and he sent more, and that was in 2018. He doesn’t seem to care whether you want it or not.”
That same woman claims that Dando found her WhatsApp account in 2021 and sent more of those unwanted images. The woman says that she complained and that she got an angry response from someone else who was using Dando’s account but who did not seem to be Dando: “It was under his account, but this was definitely a different person, sending me this long diatribe and blaming me.”
Another woman in Pennsylvania says that Dando started sending her similar masturbation photos and videos after she was active on a Lemonheads Facebook fan page and met Dando once. Ortega includes a screenshot of one of those unwanted messages in his newsletter, with Dando’s penis cropped out. Both women tell Ortega that they believe Dando has been sending unwanted explicit images like those to other women “for decades.”
Ortega further reports that whoever was running the Lemonheads Instagram account posted in a comment that the first alleged victim’s account is “all lies.” Read the second Underground Bunker story here.
As the story was coming out, that Instagram account also posted videos of Dando on vacation in Brazil. In the caption, Dando wrote, “I also would like to apologize for being way too happy and losing my mind for a couple of days, I’m really sorry if I offended you.” As recently as Tuesday, it was still posting throwback Lemonheads videos.
On Friday, Dando’s wife Antonia Teixeira spoke to Billboard about the first set of accusations against Dando. Teixeira married Evan Dando in 2023, and she lives with Evan Dando and her three children in Brazil. In a Billboard story published today, Teixeira claimed that Dando has had issues with alcohol and prescription drugs for years and that she has sometimes kept prescription drugs hidden and locked away. (In 2025, Dando claimed to be sober aside from LSD and prescription medications.) She says that his issues immediately got worse in a January 2026 visit to the US, where the Lemonheads performed with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show and recorded an NPR Tiny Desk Concert that she says will never be released because Dando was “so out of his mind” at the time.
Teixeira claims that Dando’s behavior grew more erratic as the couple arrived first in New York and then in Washington. She says that they returned to São Paulo and that “everything went to hell” in the immediate aftermath. According to Teixeira, Dando was high on a combination of Adderall, THC, and mushrooms when he sent those videos to numerous women. She says, “You can’t imagine how mad I was when I saw that he was sending messages to girls. I’m very mad because he betrayed me.” At least based on what’s printed in Billboard, Teixeira does not offer any concern for the women who received the unwanted videos.
According to Billboard, Teixeira believes that Dando send the videos detailed in The Underground Bunker to “the wrong woman” by accident: “From what I’m looking [at] now, it wasn’t … he doesn’t remember what he did. He was in a mental meltdown.” She claims that she gave Dando an ultimatum, telling him that she would divorce him if he didn’t seek treatment, and that he’s “very embarrassed” when he was told of his actions. She brings up the idea that Dando’s actions were “self-sabotage” after the release of the Lemonheads’ recent comeback album Love Chant.
Teixeira tells Billboard that she believes Dando can take responsibility for his drug use through rehab: “If he’s really, really committed, he can do it… I feel like this is a second phase of his healing, you know? It’s him actually taking into his own hands, his responsibilities, the consequences, and not blaming other people and just trying to be better because he wants to be better himself… I’m very hopeful that things will get better.” You can read the full Billboard piece here.
Four days ago, Teixeira posted an Instagram statement, writing that she personally reached out to apologize to Dando’s first accuser. Here’s what she wrote:
My Valentine’s Day statement: There has been a lot of discussion surrounding recent allegations involving Evan, and I want to address this directly.
In the weeks leading up to this situation, Evan was struggling with heavy drinking, prescription drug abuse, and a serious mental health episode. During that time, he engaged in inappropriate online exchanges. He believed he was communicating with someone who was participating in consensual sexual messaging and was comfortable receiving explicit content. That belief does not excuse his behavior, and I am not minimizing what happened.
I have personally reached out to the woman who made the allegation to apologize. No one deserves to receive unwanted sexual content, and I am sincerely sorry for the distress this caused.
Evan had already agreed to enter treatment before these allegations became public. He is now in rehab addressing both his substance abuse and his mental health. I have made it clear that continuing treatment is essential, and I will make decisions that protect myself if he does not follow through.
I am not defending his actions. They hurt me deeply. At the same time, I believe addiction and mental illness can lead to destructive behavior that requires accountability and professional help. I hope there can be room for both responsibility and compassion as he takes steps toward recovery.
If you or someone you know is undergoing sexual abuse, please visit rainn.org or contact the National Sexual Assault Helpline at 1-800-656-4673.
