Spice Girls’ Mel B speaks out about abusive and coercive relationships: ‘You can get out’

'They cry and say it's not going to happen again and you believe them'

Mel B has opened up about being in an abusive relationship, urging women in similar situations to speak out.

The Spice Girls member has written a tell-all book about her marriage to film producer Stephen Belafonte, who she divorced in 2016 prior to filing a restraining order against him, accusing him of physical, verbal and psychological abuse – a domestic violence trial was settled out of court in 2017.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, the singer recalls “going home to a monster every night”.

Mel B was in a relationship with Belafonte, who denies all allegations made against him, for 10 years, but said she wished she’d left much sooner than she did, explaining that the abuse began almost “straight away” on her wedding night.

“They cry and say it’s not going to happen again and you believe them,” she said on the radio programme.

“They chip away at you so you believe it’s all your fault, so you think the reason why they’re being abusive is because you made them do it.”

The singer, whose full name is Melanie Brown, describes writing about the relationship in her book, Brutally Honest, as “very therapeutic” and “cathartic”.

“My only option was to talk about it and to write about it because I didn’t know any other way out,” she added in a separate interview with the BBC.

“It’s hard for women to admit things to themself, let alone admit to anyone else that they’re in a coercive relationship.”

The singer, who is an ambassador for domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid, said she hopes her book will help women escape similar situations to hers and know that there are options.

“You can get out,” she continued, “and by talking about it, hopefully you do that for yourself.”

In August, Brown revealed she had entered rehab after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I am fully aware I am at a crisis point,” she told the Sun on Sunday at the time, adding that she hoped she could “shine a light on the issue of pain, PTSD, and the things men and women do to mask it”.

For more information on domestic violence and ways to find support, visit Women’s Aid here.