Singer Evan Dando, founder of the alternative-rock band the Lemonheads, was hospitailzed Thursday after sending a fan unwanted pornography, the latest in a long series of setbacks for the musician, who has struggled with mental illness and substance abuse for decades.
“Evan Dando has long struggled with mental health issues dating back to his childhood,” a statement from his representative reads. “He’s been admitted to a local hospital where he’s receiving comprehensive help from experienced doctors and mental health professionals.”
The unidentified fan’s alleged account, which was posted in detail Thursday on the website the Underground Bunker, says the fan and Dando, 58, exchanged brief messages on Twitter years ago. She sent him a congratulatory DM last year after the release last October of Dando’s first Lemonheads album in 20 years, “Love Chant,” and he responded. A brief exchange followed, then a series of late-night DMs from Dando followed by a video of himself masturbating.
Dando is candid about his struggles in his 2025 memoir, “Rumors of My Demise,” which begins with an account of himself destitute amid decades of heroin addiction. “I was in horrible shape, losing teeth,” he wrote, “and living off cheeseburgers — which I could barely chew — Marlboro Reds, purple Powerade (two for the price of one at Cumberland Farms), and a $200 daily drug budget.”
The Underground Bunker is primarily a site for Scientology exposes, run by former member Tony Ortega, but as Ortega explained, “In this case we were approached by a longtime, very active reader who asked if we could help with a different kind of problem.” The reader in question was the husband of the woman who received the DMs and videos. “They were both grossed out by it, angry, and weren’t sure what to do about it,” Ortega wrote.
The woman, who is pseudonymously identified as “Dawn” in the story, says that she had exchanged messages with Dando years ago, then got back in contact again in October to congratulate him on the new album, receiving no reply until last week.
That belated response, she said, came in the form of a message saying, “Cool I’m sorry I’m an exhibitionist.” Without understanding what, if anything in particular, Dando was referring to, she wrote back, ““Don’t ever apologize for being you, my friend. Always be unapologetic. And you.” Then she says she awoke to find a series of DMs from Dando on X, and first opened a video of him masturbating, before finding that it had been preceded by messages including, “Would it be cool if I sent you an ‘art’ photo?” The woman told Ortega, ““It’s him sitting in a basement or something, and he’s fully masturbating. You can see his penis, and his face. It’s definitely him. He’s filming it from a weird angle.”
She and her husband weighed what to do, knowing Dando was likely in Brazil, where he lives with his wife and her children. Meanwhile, the day after she opened the first video, she got another one she said, also of Dando masturbating, with an apparent joint in his mouth. After that, she said, Dando sent a message: “Ok sorry thanks I just need an outlet Cheers.”
“I’ve never felt anger like that,” the woman identified as Dawn told Ortega. “Don’t call me an outlet, that’s gross… I don’t want him to do this to anyone else.”