Spice
Girl Mel B gets restraining order after accusing husband
of abuse
Send a link to a friend
[April 05, 2017]
By Piya Sinha-Roy
LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) -
Spice Girl Melanie 'Mel B' Brown was granted a
restraining order against her estranged husband after
filing court papers claiming he had emotionally and
physically abused her for much of their 10-year
marriage.
|
The British singer, 41, said her husband, TV producer Stephen
Belafonte, had beaten her and destroyed her self esteem,
threatening to leak a sex tape to the media if she left him,
according to court documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court
to support her request for a restraining order.
The request was granted on Monday and a full hearing was
scheduled on April 24.
Representatives for Brown did not immediately return requests
for comment on Tuesday.
Attempts by Reuters to reach Belafonte by telephone were
unsuccessful and no lawyer or representative for Belafonte was
listed in the court documents.
Brown, known as "Scary Spice" in the 1990s British girl group,
filed for divorce last month in Los Angeles citing
irreconcilable differences.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Apr/05/images/ads/current/elkhart_grain_daily_sda_022614.png)
The couple married in 2007 and have a five year-old daughter.
Brown has two other children from previous relationships.
Belafonte told celebrity website TMZ in an interview on Monday,
"I am shocked at those allegations... I think someone is trying
to set me up to look like a bad guy."
[to top of second column] |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Apr/05/images/ads/current/castlemanor_lda_051916.png)
In the court documents, Brown detailed incidents dating back to
2007, when she claimed Belafonte slammed her onto the floor and
began choking her on the night of her finale for the TV show
"Dancing with the Stars."
In 2012, she said a jealous Belafonte punched her in the face and
split her lip as she was about to tape a segment with R&B singer
Usher for the TV show "The X Factor," according to the court
documents.
The singer included photographs of herself in the filing, including
a couple from her appearance on "The X Factor" with bruises on her
arms and face.
Brown said in the documents that she tried to leave Belafonte many
times but he "threatened me with violence and threatened to destroy
my life in every possible way ... destroy my career and take my kids
from me."
(The story was refiled to fix a typographical error in the second
paragraph)
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; editing by Diane Craft)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |