Mel’s ‘years of physical and mental abuse’
LAWYERS for former Spice Girl Mel B yesterday told a US judge of her husband’s “extensive criminal history” amid fresh accusations in the couple’s ongoing divorce battle.
The 41-year-old singer – full name Melanie Brown – was granted a temporary restraining order earlier this month after claims that Stephen Belafonte had subjected her to years of physical and emotional abuse.
The British star also claims that Belafonte had an affair with the couple’s German nanny and even got her pregnant.
The singer was not in court for the hearing ahead of a divorce trial expected to take place later this year.
Addressing the judge, Mel B’s lawyer Larry Bakman said: “We are developing new evidence against Mr Belafonte each and every day with respect to... the use of assets for various illegal nefarious activities.”
Beatings
Mr Bakman said Belafonte had “an extensive criminal history”.
“He’s a convicted domestic violence offender and we have credible evidence that he had a firearm in his possession which is against federal law,” he said.
Grace Jamra, for Belafonte, told the court: “We’re not going to address evidence that is being developed or fabricated or manufactured.”
In court papers, Mel B claimed she was the victim of “multiple physical beatings” at the hands of Belafonte and that he had threatened to “destroy” her career by releasing sex tapes of her.
Lawyers for Belafonte have branded the allegations “outrageous and unfounded” and “nothing more than a smear campaign”. Mel B also alleges that Belafonte had sex with the couple’s German nanny Lorraine Gilles, 26, and got her pregnant before demanding an abortion.
Gilles is now suing for defamation, alleging that she had a seven-year relationship with Mel B and that she only had sex with Stephen when she had group sex with the couple.
Mel, who is now a judge on America’s Got Talent, married the film producer in Las Vegas in 2007.
She has claimed she was repeatedly attacked by him, including while she worked on Australia’s X Factor and after she performed with the Spice Girls at the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony.
The alleged abuse led to her swallowing a bottle of painkillers in 2014 while a judge on The X Factor in the UK, she said.
She also claimed she tried to leave Belafonte after their first year of marriage but he threatened to release “videos of our sex life and other private moments” to the tabloids.