Summary
- Eddie Murphy initially denied being the father of his ex-girlfriend Mel B's child, Angel Iris.
- Despite a fiery custody battle, Murphy begrudgingly paid $35,000 in child support to Mel B.
- Over time, Murphy has had a change of heart.
It's no secret that Eddie Murphy absolutely adores his kids. The SNL alum takes fatherhood quite seriously, going as far as hitting pause on his career in 2011 just to spend time with his kids. However, there's one member of the brood Murphy wasn't always so enthusiastic about: Angel Iris Murphy, the now 16-year-old daughter he shares with his ex-girlfriend, Mel B.
When the former Spice Girl gave birth to Angel in 2007, Murphy publicly denied being the father of her child and declined to have any contact with her for years, even after his paternity had firmly been established. Decades later, has the Trading Places star managed to mend bridges with his daughter?
Eddie Murphy Initially Refused To Acknowledge The Daughter He Shares With Spice Girl Mel B
Actor-comedian Eddie Murphy and Spice Girl Mel B first crossed paths back in 2006, igniting a whirlwind romance that would put their lives, and that of their yet-to-be-conceived but now 16-year-old daughter, Angel Iris, in a tailspin for the next decade or so
"It was as if a 2,000-volt electric current had passed between us," Mel B. would later say of their first meeting in her 2018 memoir, Brutally Honest. "I felt a hundred different emotions at once, from confused to elated, to happy to scared, to relaxed to incredulous, and everything in between," she continued. "I felt I had known this man all my life and that I was staring at my destiny in his face.”
According To Mel B., the whirlwind affair that ensued saw Murphy go above and beyond to win her affection, doing everything from handing her his credit card to asking her now-deceased father for her hand in marriage.
Things took an unexpected turn when Mel B fell pregnant and delivered their first child, Angel Iris Murphy. "I don’t know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test,” Murphy told a reporter at the time.
“You shouldn’t jump to conclusions, sir." The comedian-turned-actor’s reaction was undoubtedly a bitter pill to swallow for Mel B, who then had to contend with the backlash that ensued.
“I was like, hanging my head in shame because people were like, ‘Oh is that the father or isn’t it?’ I knew what I knew,” she shared on an episode of her reality show, Mel B: It's A Scary World, back in 2010. "I had people calling me a gold digger, saying I got pregnant on purpose. It was a horrible time.”
Eddie Murphy Refused To Have A Relationship With His Daughter, Angel Iris, For Years
When Eddie Murphy’s paternity had firmly been established, Mel B was quick to encourage a relationship between the SNL luminary and his daughter. “When the results of the DNA test came in, and Angel was, in fact, no surprise, Eddie Murphy’s child, I encouraged their relationship from day one,” she revealed on her reality show, Mel B: It's A Scary World.
However, the months that followed Angel's birth saw Murphy and Mel B lock horns in a fiery custody battle, which would ultimately end with Murphy begrudgingly forking over a whopping $35,000 in child support to the former Spice Girl.
Amid their fiery legal skirmish, reports emerged that Murphy was bitter with Mel B for allegedly tricking him into having a baby. "What was supposed to be a casual relationship ended with her having his baby and taking him to court for millions," an insider revealed to The National Enquirer in 2008.
However, even with their legal skirmish firmly in the rearview, Eddie Murphy still didn't want to have a relationship with his daughter. According to Mail Online, the Dolemite is My Name star was still uninterested in having a relationship with Angel as of 2018, over a decade after she was born.
Does Eddie Murphy Now Have A Relationship With His Daughter, Angel?
Though Mail Online reports that Eddie Murphy was still giving his daughter a wide berth as of 2018, it appears that the comedian might have re-entered the now 16-year-old's life much earlier. As Mel B revealed on the debut episode of her reality TV show, Mel B: It’s A Scary World, Murphy had already changed his tune by the time Angel was 4 years old.
“Angel is three-and-a-half, and I didn’t expect her real biological father to all of a sudden pop back in our lives,” she said. “I think because in my mind I fought so hard for justice at the very beginning of my pregnancy.”
The Coming 2 America star even apologized for refusing to acknowledge the paternity of the child at the start. "He apologizes to this day about that," she explained to Piers Morgan on Life Stories in 2021.
"He wishes he never said it because that baby was planned; we planned that baby together, and we were madly in love, and it just went wrong, dramatically went wrong."
Over a decade later, Murphy and Mel B. have finally buried the hatchet and established an amicable co-parenting relationship. "Mel and Eddie always talk through Eddie's mom, but there's no issues — that's just how they co-parent,” an insider revealed to People in August 2018. “But he really is a hands-on parent with his kids, especially Angel."
As for his relationship with Angel, sources claim it couldn’t be better. "They all have a very good relationship," an inside source told People. "He always makes sure to get them involved with Angel... She texts Eddie and is on the phone with him all the time. She loves her dad."
The Trading Places star even goes out of his way to spoil the now 16-year-old. “He gives her all the gifts,” the source added. “At Christmas, there are 150 boxes under the tree … dresses, shoes, toys, you name it, her birthday, literally every occasion.”
