MEL B: ‘MY EX IS FORCING OUR DAUGHTER TO LIE’
Court papers claim he’s still living with their nanny
‘I’m shocked our daughter would be forced to perpetuate a lie’
Mel B’s spent the past three years getting her life back on track and starting afresh in Leeds after the breakdown of her marriage to Stephen Belafonte, who she accused of infidelity, domestic abuse and sexual assault (which he strongly denies). Since then, the pair have been battling over custody of their eight-year-old daughter, Madison, who’s living with her father in LA.
And last week, Mel redrew the battle lines after she filed legal papers against Stephen, which claim that he still lives with their former nanny Lorraine Gilles – who last year won a reported £1.8m in damages from Mel after the singer accused her of having an affair with Stephen and getting pregnant. Reports claimed Mel took action after discovering that Stephen had forced their daughter to lie about living with Lorraine, to avoid getting his “mistress/ girlfriend” into trouble, which Mel claims is “psychologically abusive” to Madison.
Last December, Mel told heat that the custody battle was “incredibly hard” and that she was “hoping and praying” that she would get Madison home. In the papers filed last week, she alleges that Stephen had told Madison to refer to Lorraine as “Jenny” to keep her presence secret from Mel. The singer claims she found out after Madison told her sister Phoenix, 21 (Mel’s daughter from her first marriage). Last year, Mel settled out of court with Lorraine, who says she was wrongly branded a “home wrecker, prostitute and extortionist”. The nanny said she only had sex with Stephen when she was invited to by Mel B, who she also had threesomes with. The £1.8m settlement was reportedly paid on the condition that Lorraine “stay away” from Mel’s family, but she’s since been pictured in LA with both Stephen and Madison.
In court papers filed last week in LA, Mel said, “I’m shocked our daughter would be forced to perpetuate a lie formed by her father simply to keep his mistress/girlfriend/ nanny out of trouble. It is psychologically abusive for our little girl to be forced to keep secrets with her father, or be made to believe that she cannot share what she wants… with her mother.”
Stephen is yet to respond to the claims. ■
As you know, guys, we’ve always got our fingers on the pulse of what’s new and cool in celeb-land. And recently, we’ve noticed a burgeoning trend for clandestine bumps – it’s just so hot right now. Last week, All Saints singer Nicole Appleton, 45, surprised us all by announcing she’d given birth to a baby girl named Skipper Hudson Haines, having kept her entire pregnancy a secret. She posted an adorable photo of herself and baby daddy Stephen Haines with their newborn daughter on Instagram, telling fans that hiding the bump had been “SOOOOO difficult”, as well as “keeping her a secret from all my friends”. She added that
they were all “besotted”. Too cute.
Nicole’s surprise news comes just one month after her former fiancé Robbie Williams dropped a similar baby bombshell, revealing that he and wife Ayda had welcomed their fourth child, son Beau, via surrogate. But in Nicole’s case, it’s even more impressive that she kept the whole thing under wraps – bump and all.
The singer – who last month announced that All Saints would be performing this summer at the Isle of Wight Festival – is already mum to 19-year-old son Gene (whose dad is Nic’s ex-husband Liam Gallagher), but this is her first child with Facebook exec Stephen. The couple got together in November 2018, and are reportedly considering moving to the US, where Stephen, 47, is predominately based. Former ’90s party girl Nic is known for her closeknit circle of famous friends, so Instagram soon went crazy with blue ticks wishing her congratulations. First up was bestie Holly Willoughby, who wrote, “Welcome to the world, beautiful Skipper… you lucky girl… you’ve won the mum lottery. Can’t wait to meet you.” Emma Bunton added to the celebrations, writing, “Just the best news my gorgeous girl! We love you so much.” Close friend Kate Thornton also weighed in, writing, “What a lucky little girl she is to be born into so much love to such good people. Can’t wait to come and squeeze her.”
Once often hitting the headlines for her colourful love life – especially during the breakdown of her marriage to Liam, which ended in 2014 after he fathered a child with US journalist Liza Ghorbani – Nicole’s kept her private life quiet in recent times. Still, we’d never have expected her to keep an entire pregnancy and birth hush-hush. Never ever… ■
‘It was SOOO difficult keeping it a secret’