Scary Spice, who has accused her producer ex-husband of being abusive during their marriage, also suggests in a new interview that she still has emotional pain that leads her to feel as if she's 'not good enough.'
- Sep 30, 2023
AceShowbiz - Melanie Brown says breaking her ribs was "nothing compared" to allegedly suffering through an abusive marriage. The Spice Girls member was married to producer Stephen Belafonte from 2007 until 2017 in what she has alleged was an abusive relationship, although he has always denied the claims, and she has now claimed that the pain she felt in that decade was worse than when she suffered a "serious fall" and broke several ribs.
When speaking to The Saturday Times' Style magazine, the 48-year-old said, "In 2018, I suffered a serious fall and broke several ribs, but that was nothing compared with what I went through for ten years in my abusive relationship." She added, "Whether you've been abused for an hour, a day or a month, it sticks on you."
"Because you're constantly told that you're not good enough: you're not worthy; you're fat; you're ugly. That's why body confidence is so important to me," she continued. "Once you leave an abuser, it doesn't just stop. Especially if you have kids with that person."
Mel B, who received an MBE in 2022 for her services to charitable causes and vulnerable women, went on to allege that she is on a "never-ending journey" to recovery following the alleged abuse. She said she still goes to her local Women's Aid shelter for therapy.
"They can still carry on abusing you through the courts. It's a never-ending journey to piece yourself back together and feel like yourself again. I go to a Women's Aid shelter down the road to get my therapy," the singer, who has 11-year-old Madison with Stephen as well as Angel, 16, with Eddie Murphy and 24-year-old Phoenix with Jimmy Gulzar, elaborated. "I used to have to bash on people’s doors for them to listen to me about domestic violence. When I brought out my memoir Brutally Honest in 2018, no one wanted to talk about it. Now we're less ashamed to speak out."
