\n
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRead more<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSpice Girls star Mel B has opened up about her decision to move her family from Los Angeles to her hometown in northern England in 2019, following her divorce from her second husband, Stephen Belafonte. <\/p>\n
The 50-year-old British pop star, whose real name is Melanie Brown, was married to film producer Stephen Belafonte from 2007 to 2017, a marriage she described in a new interview as \u201chorrible\u201d and \u201ccoercively controlled.\u201d <\/p>\n
Belafonte \u2014 with whom Brown shares her youngest daughter, Madison \u2014 has vehemently and repeatedly denied her claims that he was abusive. <\/p>\n
Two years after finalizing her divorce, Brown traveled back home to the U.K., bringing her three daughters: Phoenix, now 27, Angel, now 18, and Madison, now 14.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father was dying, and I hadn\u2019t seen or spoken to him or my mum or anyone for a good part of nine years,\u201d the singer told The Times of London <\/em>in a new interview. \u201cSo I flew to England. My dad was in the hospice at death\u2019s door, but thankfully he waited for me before passing away.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
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(L-R) Mel B rallied three of her Spice Girls bandmates, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton and Melanie Chisholm, for a 13-date reunion tour in 2019 (Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Mel B relocated her family from LA to northern England in 2019 (Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nWhen it came time to return to Los Angeles, Brown remembered: \u201cAngel said [Brown affects an American accent], \u2018Mommy, why are we going back to America when all your family\u2019s here?\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018OK, good point. But you\u2019re all California kids, do you really want to move to London with all the different weather?\u2019 They were like, \u2018Yeah! But not London \u2014 Leeds!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown claimed that after her costly divorce from Belafonte, whom she has also accused of financial abuse during their relationship, she was left with only \u00a3700 to her name. She was forced to move into her mother\u2019s bungalow with her children and dog. <\/p>\n
Reflecting on the move, she said: \u201cIt was perfect, because then I had no choice but to mend the relationships with my mum, my sisters, my friends who didn\u2019t know what I\u2019d been going through. So it put our family back together.\u201d<\/p>\n
She now lives in a \u00a32.2 million farmhouse, surrounded by 15 acres of forest, with her third husband, 37-year-old hairdresser Rory McPhee.<\/p>\n
Brown, affectionately known as Scary Spice, first rose to fame in 1996 as a member of the Spice Girls, the Nineties girl group consisting of Victoria Beckham, Melanie C, Geri Halliwell, and Emma Bunton.<\/p>\n
In January, Mel C teased that the group is closer to a reunion now than they have been in a \u201cvery long time.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always keeping my fingers crossed,\u201d she said during an appearance on Heart Breakfast.<\/em><\/p>\nHer remarks came amid excitement and speculation among fans of a highly anticipated reunion, which was sparked when Bunton celebrated her 50th birthday alongside bandmates Mel C, Beckham, and Halliwell. <\/p>\n
The group last reunited in 2019 for a 13-date reunion stadium tour, albeit without Beckham. <\/p>\n
\u201cLooking back to 2019, when we did our stadium tour, Victoria wasn\u2019t with us. So she has to have that experience,\u201d Mel C said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference. Read more Spice Girls star Mel B has opened up about her decision to move her family from Los Angeles to her hometown in northern England in 2019, following her divorce from her second husband, Stephen Belafonte. The 50-year-old British pop star, whose real name is Melanie Brown, was married to film producer Stephen Belafonte from 2007 to 2017, a marriage she described in a new interview as \u201chorrible\u201d and \u201ccoercively controlled.\u201d Belafonte \u2014 with whom Brown shares her youngest daughter, Madison \u2014 has vehemently and repeatedly denied her claims that he was abusive. Two years after finalizing her divorce, Brown traveled back home to the U.K., bringing her three daughters: Phoenix, now 27, Angel, now 18, and Madison, now 14. \u201cMy father was dying, and I hadn\u2019t seen or spoken to him or my mum or anyone for a good part of nine years,\u201d the singer told The Times of London in a new interview. \u201cSo I flew to England. My dad was in the hospice at death\u2019s door, but thankfully he waited for me before passing away.\u201d (L-R) Mel B rallied three…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13791"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}