Late last March, former Spice Girl Melanie "Mel B" Brown filed a divorce for her husband of 10 years, Stephen Belafonte. Now, the iconic 41-year-old singer took another measure and filed a restraining order against her estranged husband after accusing him of abuse.
The former couple's decade-long of relationship was filled with a litany of exploitation, revealed the former Spice. According to People, Mel B admitted that her relationship with the film producer almost drove her to commit suicide.
Brown ordered Belafonte to stay away from her, along with their three children — Phoenix, 18, Angel, 10, and Madison, 5. The family used to live together in their Los Angeles home.
The British pop singer claimed that she was physically, emotionally and sexually exploited by Belafonte, and even released photos proving her bruises allegedly caused by her estranged husband. One instance of abuse was after her ground-breaking performance for the London Olympics, she recalled. Immediately after, Belafonte allegedly forced Brown to tweet that her scabs were from running using Christian Louboutin heels.
Running in 7 inch louboutin no good!! I'm wearing prauge on my face!!! https://t.co/ofSSXZ4z
— Melanie Brown (@OfficialMelB) August 17, 2012
Brown also said she was forced by Belafonte to have sexual intercourse with him. He allegedly also pushed her to do threesomes with random women and secretly recorded their intercourse, only to be used as a blackmailing tool to ruin her career.
Mel B also claimed that their nanny had a sexual relationship with Belafonte and he even got her pregnant. Brown was forgiving enough to ask the nanny to live together with her then-husband but Belafonte allegedly paid the nanny for $300,000 in exchange for abortion.
Belafonte denied the accusations of his estranged wife. The producer argued that he and Brown were even "friends" two weeks ago but now, he said he is completely "shocked" with the revelations.
"I'm really distraught in my brain how this going to affect our children," Belafonte told TMZ. "And the depths that she's gone to. That's it. That's it."
Belafonte and Brown started dating when the former Spice just gave birth to her second child, Angel. In 2007, the pair wed in secrecy. Brown said that during the first years of their relationship, Belafonte was kind to her but as time passed, he became "controlling, manipulative and abusive."
