Mel B had to move into her mother's spare room after her divorce: 'I had nothing!'
Mel B had to move back in with her mother following her divorce from Stephen Belafonte because she was left with "nothing" despite being on tour with the Spice Girls.
Mel B had to move back in with her mother following her divorce from Stephen Belafonte.
The Spice Girls star, 48, was married to the producer from 2007 until 2017 in what she has alleged was an abusive relationship – although he has always denied the claims - and two years later she rejoined Geri Halliwell, Melanie C and Emma Bunton for a reunion sellout stadium tour but had to move home because she was left with "nothing" following the split.
Speaking on the 'How to Fail' podcast, she told host Elizabeth Day: "[I left] with nothing. No house, no property, no cars, no furniture, no credit card, no nothing.
" I had to move back into my mum's house. She's got a little bungalow in Leeds so I was doing Wembley Stadium with the Spice Girls in 2019 performing in front of thousands of people, in my element back with my girls and then going home to Leeds in my mum's spare bedroom with my kids and my life and going 'This is my life and I love it now because I know what I'm coming home to.'"
The 'Tell Me' hitmaker - who has Phoenix, 24, with first husband Jimmy Gulzar, 16-year-old Angel from her relationship with Eddie Murphy, and 12-year-old Madison with ex-husband Stephen but is now engaged to Rory McPhee - added that the tour came about just at the right time for her but revealed that it was her father's death that gave her the push to be able to leave her marriage after several unsuccessful attempts.
She added: "I doubted myself, I had no confidence. Luckily the Spice Girls tour came around at the perfect time. But unfortunately, if it wasn't for my dad dying, I don't know if would have left that marriage because I didn't have the strength to do it.
"I tried to do it six or seven times within those 10 years but I always got pulled back whether it be through blackmail or the fact that I couldn't leave without my kids.
"I did try but it wasn't until my dad died...I promised him...he died in Leeds and I said 'When I get back to LA, I'm gonna leave that abuser.' and he took his last breath. I don't even know if I would have had the strength to do that, my dad gave me the strength. And now I'm giving myself strength through speaking to other survivors, from being a patron of Women's Aid."
