Mel B is opening up about feeling “powerless” and having to move in with her mother after leaving her tumultuous marriage to Stephen Belafonte in 2017.
O spice girls singer – whose real name is Melanie Brown – recently spoke to BBC about the embarrassment he felt after leaving California and traveling thousands of miles to his hometown of Leeds, where he moved into his mother’s bungalow.
At the time of their separation, the America has talent judge, 48, stated that Belafonte, 48, physically abused her throughout the wedding. In addition to her previous statements, she is now also speaking out about what she calls “financial abuse.”
“I wasn’t just emotionally and physically abused, there was all the financial abuse as well. I didn’t realize I didn’t have as much money as I thought I did. with my mother,” she said BBC.
Belafonte, film producer, repeatedly denied his claims since she first spoke out, calling them “outrageous and unfounded.”
Despite being on a sold-out tour with the Spice Girls when she decided to move house, Mel B said she had to learn to live “frugally” in the years after her divorce – including shopping on a budget and only recently being able to afford a house herself . Divorce records show the singer was ordered to pay Belafonte $350,000 as part of the settlement and $5,000 a month in child support for her 12-year-old daughter, Madison. The singer has two other children, Phoenix, 25, and Angel, 16, from previous years. relationships.
Although she has been out of her marriage for several years, she says she is still finding herself and returning to normalcy.
“My mom was the kind of person who would say, ‘Oh, you left him now, you’re fine.’ But that couldn’t be further from the truth,” she told the channel. “It’s like starting all over again. You have to learn to trust people. You have to learn to trust yourself.”
Financially speaking, Mel B says she managed to recover and was finally able to buy a house in February, after five years of “really hard” work.
“I’ve been looking at houses on and off for the past two years, knowing I didn’t have the money to buy them,” she explained. “But I just put my head down, worked and lived frugally, and so I was able to buy my own house.”
Now she is determined to stand up for those who feel as powerless as she once did. She is working to change laws and policies around abuse and give a greater voice to those in a position to fight back.
“I’m the voice for all the other survivors who don’t have a voice, who can’t be heard, who can’t get their point across, especially when it comes to things like trying to change the justice system. and trying to enforce more laws that are more supportive of people leaving an abusive situation,” she said.
Mel B says she is also focusing on her marriage to hairdresser Rory McPhee, who she got engaged in 2022. The couple are planning to get married at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Although she hasn’t chosen her dress yet, Mel B says having her Spice Girls band member Victoria Beckham design the dress is certainly on the cards.
“She would love it,” she said.
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