Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MEL B’S HUBBY: I’LL FIGHT FOR THE CHILDREN
‘Abusive’ Belafonte’s custody vow
MEL B’s estranged husband today vows to fight for his children.
Stephen Belafonte, 41, told the Sunday Mirror: “My kids are the only thing that matter to me.”
MEL B’s estranged husband Stephen Belafonte today breaks his silence on the pair’s toxic divorce battle and vows to get his kids back and clear his name.
He told the Sunday Mirror: “They are the only things that matter to me.”
Our exclusive picture shows Belafonte with the couple’s daughter Madison in the US on March 27.
He appears in high spirits as he laughs and jokes with the five-year-old.
Just a week later Mel B won a restraining order against him and custody of Madison after accusing him of years of abuse.
Yesterday, when pressed to give his version of events, a distraught Belafonte said: “I’m going to have to get off the phone because family court frowns on that.
“It is in the hands of my lawyers, My kids are the only thing that matter to me.”
Belafonte is stepdad to Mel’s two children – Phoenix Chi, 18, by her first husband Jimmy Gulzar and nine-year-old daughter Angel with movie star Eddie Murphy.
He is also dad to Giselle, 13, who he had with former girlfriend Nicole Contreras.
In a series of claims, Mel has told how she tried to commit suicide after 10 years of alleged abuse by her husband.
The 41-year-old says she swallowed a bottle of aspirin, but was then allegedly stopped from calling 999 by Belafonte.
Instead, she, claims, he threw her in the bathroom without a phone and said “die, bitch”.
There are accusations of beatings and sexual exploitation by Belafonte, who also allegedly got the couple’s German nanny Lorraine Gilles, 26, pregnant.
Court papers claim he made Mel take part in threesomes and blackmailed her with video of the romps.
A Los Angeles court ordered Belafonte, 41, to immediately leave the marital home in the city and have no contact with the star or her children. Belafonte vehemently denied the allegations, saying: “Someone’s set me up to look like a bad guy.” A statement from his lawyers claims her allegations of domestic abuse
are “outrageous and unfounded”. The lawyers’ statement read: “It’s a shame that Ms Brown elected not to proceed in a respectful and amicable fashion in this very private matter.
“In due course, Mr Belafonte will be filing his response to the outrageous and unfounded allegations made by Ms Brown, which allegations he vehemently denies.
“When the court determines the truth, it will become clear that this entire charade was nothing more than a smear campaign intended to cover up Ms Brown’s own conduct during the marriage in light of her current involvement with a family television show, and in an effort to unfairly gain leverage both financially and with respect to custody of the children.
“When the degree to which Ms Brown has gone to create a false depiction of her marriage to Mr Belafonte is uncovered, real victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse will be understandably offended, angry and upset.
TRUTH
“Mr Belafonte is confident that the truth will come out when he has his day in court, at which time he looks forward to being reunited with his children.”
The lawyers added: “What matters most to Mr Belafonte is the safety and well-being of his daughters.”
Belafonte is battling for a slice of the ex-Spice Girl’s £48million fortune and is demanding he pays her legal fees in the bitter battle.
But, in her application for the restraining order against him, Mel also accuses her ex of taking millions of dollars from her behind her back.
According to a source, she says he gave her money to nanny Lorraine and her husband, even logging into Mel’s emails and posing as her to authorise payments.
“Mel says he...lived off her while they were together,” the source added. Since their split, Mel has been reunited with her family after a major dispute blamed on Belafonte.
Yesterday Mel B’s mum Andrea Brown retweeted a post about domestic violence.
The post read: “Two women are killed every week in England and Wales by a current or former partner #StopDomesticAbuse.”
And Mel’s sister lashed out at Belafonte telling the “sorry excuse of a man” to “rot in hell”.
Their split came just two weeks after Mel was devastated by the death of her father Martin Brown at the age of 63.
This is a campaign to cover up Ms Brown’s conduct in marriage BELAFONTE’S LAWYERS
IN STATEMENT