Heavy Mel B opens up about life post-divorce.
Season 5 “Dancing With the Stars” runner up Melanie “Mel B” Brown is opening up about her life post-divorce. Brown and Stephen Belafonte tied the knot in 2007 and officially divorced in 2017. Brown has since shared some details about her marriage, which she says was abusive.
In a new interview, Mel B said that she was forced to move back in with her mother after losing nearly everything.
“I wasn’t just emotionally and physically abused, there was all the financial abuse too. I didn’t realize that I didn’t have as much money as I thought I had. So I literally had to eat humble pie, live with my mum,” Brown told BBC News.
“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,” she explained, adding, “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.”
Brown and Belafonte share a daughter named Madison. Brown also has two other daughters, Phoenix and Angel, from previous relationships.
Here’s what you need to know:
Mel B Divorce Settlement Was a Financial Strain
Mel B and Belafonte settled their divorce out of court, according to The Cut. They reached an agreement that had Brown paying her ex-husband $350,000, plus monthly child support payments to the tune of $5,000.
Between the money she was paying to her ex and her legal fees, Brown found herself in a very tight spot.
Brown has secured a good deal of work in the time since her divorce, and has been a judge on “America’s Got Talent” since 2011. She also inked a deal to become a panelist on Australia’s version of “The Masked Singer” in 2022 and 2023.
Overall, Brown seems to be in a better position in 2024, getting her life back on track.
She is engaged to Rory McPhee and the two plan on tying the knot in London, per BBC.
Mel B Bought a Home in February
Brown would spend about five years living with her mother before buying her very own home. In February 2024, she shared the exciting news on Instagram.
“I’m soooo overwhelmed right now. Sitting here with my 3 dogs not really able to speak but something has happened to me a few mins ago which is HUGE!!! I want to share it with other survivors like me coz all YOU survivors out there will know how emotional this moment is 5 mins ago a man arrived at my door with a set of keys,” she captioned an Instagram post.
“They are the keys to my new home. A house I bought with the money Ive worked bloody hard to pay for. It’s taken me 5+ yrs to be able to do this In 2019 I had to come back to Leeds with NOTHING in my bank account,” she continued.
Meanwhile, in her interview with BBC, Brown said she wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to afford her own home. “I just put my head down, worked and lived frugally,” she said.
READ NEXT: DWTS Alum Admits Maks Chmerkovskiy Made Her Cry During Rehearsals