Mel B has recalled the trauma of her “abusive” marriage to ex-husband Stephen Belafonte.
Over the years, Mel B has accused Stephen of physical, emotional, and financial abuse, claims he vehemently denies.
The Spice Girl and Stephen were married from 2007 to 2017 and share one daughter Madison, 12, together.
Speaking on Thursday’s broadcast of Loose Women, the 48-year-old made an appearance on the show during their Facing It Together campaign, which aims to raise awareness of domestic abuse.
Reflecting on her marriage, she told the panel: “Even though I was in my marriage for ten years I tried to leave six or seven times. I went back due to fear or blackmail.”
“You think ‘what am i going to do if I leave, I haven’t spoken to my mum in weeks, then its month, then years.’ It happens so gradually.”
She continued: “You feel like you’re doing everything wrong and they encourage that feeling. I went from living in a mansion in LA to my mum’s bungalow with my kids.”
Discussing the aftermath of her divorce, she revealed: “I’m seven years out and I still have PTSD and panic attacks because I don’t trust myself, how could I when I thought that person loved me. I’m all about girl power but I was powerless.”
“I had lots of head tapping things to ease the trauma because I didn’t want to talk about it.”
The mother-of-three confessed that the millions she made as part of the band decreased to just a few hundred after left her marriage.
The singer added that her LA lifestyle caught up with her when she moved back to the UK.
In an interview with The Sun, Mel B said: “In LA I hadn’t bought a pint of milk in years. But back home I would buy in bulk from Costco and got really into shopping in Lidl and Aldi.”
“It was Covid times and I would put on my face mask and no one would recognise me. I stood in a queue for the first time in a long time. No one batted an eyelid.”
After leaving her controlling relationship the singer took over the financial reigns in her life once more and learned to budget herself.
She said: “People will assume, ‘She’s rich, she’s a Spice Girl, but I went from performing to thousands at Wembley on the Spice Girls’ 13-date Reunion Tour in 2019 to squeezing into my mum’s with my kids sleeping in bed with me.”
“I didn’t expect that to happen in my 40s after a successful career but I had nowhere else to go because I was so badly affected financially from my relationship, I had to pick up the pieces.”
