Summary
- Mel B faces a $5 million lawsuit from ex-husband, Stephen Belafonte, who denies abuse allegations, claiming defamation and emotional distress.
- Belafonte's lawsuit accuses Mel B of using her fame to damage his reputation and rally her fans against him.
- Mel B detailed alleged abuse suffered during marriage in recent BBC interview, describing emotional, physical, and financial abuse.
Despite divorcing Stephen Belafonte back in 2017, it seems Mel B will have to battle him in court once again. Ever since they divorced, the Spice Girls alum has spoken openly about her experience in their marriage, alleging that the producer had been physically and mentally abusive.
Now, Stephen Belafonte has decided to push back against the accusations he has spent years denying. He claims that Mel B is trying to use her fame to hurt him and ruin his career, and he's now suing her for $5 million for, among other things, including her accusations in her successful memoir, Brutally Honest.
Mel B's Ex-Husband Is Suing Her For Defamation
Spice Girls' Mel B is currently facing a $5 million lawsuit from her ex-husband, Stephen Belafonte, who she accused of being abusive during their marriage.
According to court documents, he alleges that Mel B, whose full name is Melanie Brown, has "spent the better part of the last decade engaging in a deliberate and wide-ranging campaign" to defame him and to "cause him severe emotional distress and destroy his reputation."
"Ms. Brown has stopped at nothing to falsely charge [Belafonte] with crimes and horrific offenses, including physical beatings, rape, financial abuse, emotional abuse, sex trafficking, and illegal gun possession," the lawsuit reads.
Stephen Belafonte's lawsuit also states that Mel B has used her fame to rally the public against him, and that everything she shared about the alleged abuse in her memoir, Brutally Honest, is a lie.
"[Mel B] leveraged her thirty years of fame to attack Mr. Belafonte in a malicious and vindictive global smear," the court documents continue. "Ms. Brown has been profiting off of her public lies as she portrays Mr. Belafonte as a 'monster' on global television and media appearances and in her ironically named book."
"[Her] relentless attacks have been calculated to ensure maximum coverage of her false narratives and exact maximum damage to Mr. Belafonte's reputation and emotional state." The lawsuit also claims Mel B's ex-husband could have sued her before but didn't "in order to protect his young daughter from a drawn-out and public litigation."
Mel B's Accusations Against Her Ex-Husband
Recently, Mel B did an in-depth interview with the BBC, where she detailed the alleged abuse she suffered and the consequences that it had on her life, even after she left. In it, she claimed she was not only physically and emotionally abused, but that Stephen Belafonte also took her money.
"I wasn't just emotionally and physically abused, there was all the financial abuse too. I didn't realise that I didn't have as much money as I thought I had."
Apparently, it got so bad that she had to move back home. "I literally had to eat humble pie, live with my mum."
"My mum was the kind of person that would say, 'Oh you've left him now, you're fine'. But that couldn't be further from the truth. Obviously any situation is better than being with your abuser, but when you've left that kind of abusive situation, it's like starting all over again. You have to learn to trust people. You have to learn to trust yourself."
Mel B is now in a better place in her life. She's in love with her fiance, Rory McPhee, and has the support of her friends and family.
Hopefully, she and Stephen Belafonte will settle their legal issues quickly.
