Mel B ‘blew her entire $50m Spice Girls fortune on extravagant living’
She couldn’t even pay tax bill, court is told
FORMER Spice Girl Mel B lives so extravagantly that she has wiped out her entire $50million (€45million) pop fortune, her lawyer revealed last night.
The former pop star, whose real name is Melanie Brown, has never had enough to pay her annual tax bill, attorney Jacalyn Davis said.
She said Ms Brown was left with tax debts in the US thanks to her ‘improvident lifestyle’.
The news shows how far her life has gone out of control since her success in the Nineties with the Spice Girls.
It emerged during the latest round of the bitter divorce battle between Ms Brown, 42, and her estranged husband Stephen Belafonte.
She filed for divorce from the US film producer in March, just before their tenth wedding anniversary.
In divorce papers, she alleged that he
‘Ongoing smear campaign’
beat her up and forced her to take part in threesomes, which he filmed before blackmailing her with the footage.
Ms Brown also claimed that Mr Belafonte, 42, got their nanny Lorraine Gilles pregnant and said they should all live together.
Ms Brown appeared in person at a hearing for the first time yesterday.
At Los Angeles Superior Court, she sat clutching a tissue at the far side of the room to Mr Belafonte.
The former couple were separated by four lawyers.
Grace Jamra, representing Mr Belafonte, said: ‘Their lifestyle was extravagant and affluent. She wiped out all her Spice Girls’ money, approximately $50million, if not more.’
Ms Jamra added that Ms Brown and Mr Belafonte both had tax debts due to their high spending.
Ms Davis said that their tax problems were due to ‘improvident lifestyle choices’, adding: ‘They never had money at the end of the year to pay their taxes. All their community income was being spent and then some. In this marriage that would be Ms Brown’s income from the Spice Girls.’
She added: ‘Prickly things happen when the Internal Revenue Service doesn’t get paid.’
The full divorce hearing is due to take place in September, but both sides have already made lurid allegations.
At the last court hearing Ms Brown was given custody of their five-year-old daughter, Madison.
Mr Belafonte was told he could only see her at a supervised centre twice a week after the court heard he has connections to the porn industry.
Ms Brown’s lawyer Larry Bakman described Mr Belafonte as a ‘continuing danger to the child’.
He said that Mr Belafonte was ‘involved in adult pornography’ and the ‘importation of women from other countries’ to work in the industry.
Ms Brown has claimed her husband attacked her after she performed with the Spice Girls at the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony, and that the catalogue of abuse led her to swallowing a bottle of painkillers in 2014.
She says he tried to kill her by refusing to get help and shutting the door.
Ms Brown has also alleged that he paid $300,000 to their German former nanny Ms Gilles, 26, to have an abortion after she became pregnant.
Ms Gilles responded by suing Ms Brown for defamation for allegedly portraying her as a ‘home-wrecker and prostitute’.
In previous hearings, Mr Belafonte demanded nearly $18,000 a month from Ms Brown to support himself.
He said that she earns $250,000 a month from royalties on TV work, while he is broke and has credit card debts.
Ms Jamra has previously said in court that Ms Brown’s claims against him are an ‘ongoing smear campaign’, adding: ‘Mother Teresa does not marry Attila the Hun.’
Ms Brown has an 18-year-old daughter, Phoenix Chi, by her first husband, dancer Jimmy Gulzar, and another, Angel, ten, with actor Eddie Murphy.