Mel B claims ex ‘took’ her passport to stop her seeing her dad before he died

AFTER years of alleged abuse, Mel B has revealed what finally pushed her to file for divorce from Stephen Belafonte.

MEL B has made an extraordinary claim that estranged husband Stephen Belafonte “took” her passport in order to stop her flying back to the UK to see her sick father before he died.

The Spice Girls singer’s dad Martin died on March 4 leaving Mel and her family heartbroken.

In court documents that emerged after Mel applied for a restraining order against her ex-husband, she claims he told her to “suck it up” when she told him her dad was dying, The Sun reports.

She wrote: “I expressed to [him] my feelings and emotions over the fact that I could not leave for England until the end of February to see my father … due to contractual obligation keeping me in New York.

“[His] response to me after sharing an isolated moment of intimacy with him was quite simple — ‘suck it up. If he’s going to die, he’s going to die’.”

Mel claims when she finished work in New York, she asked Belafonte to send her passport to her so she could “travel directly to the UK to see my father”.

Mel B is seen visiting her lawyer’s office in Los Angeles on Wednesday March 5, 2017. Picture: Splash News Australia

She said: “I told [him] precisely where my passport was. [He] claimed he could not find it; he claims that was nowhere in the house.

“I was forced to delay my travel to the UK. I had to return to Los Angeles to retrieve my passport. I was unable to find my passport despite specific recall as to where I left it in the house.

“I believe [he] took my passport so as to intentionally delay my travel such that I would not see my father prior to his death.”

Mel claims she was “forced to apply for an emergency passport” and arrived in the UK on February 28 before her dad passed away on March 4.

She then says she decided to “separate and divorce” from Stephen “after my father’s passing”.

It’s believed her children stayed with Stephen in LA while she was at her father’s bedside. She then returned to LA and brought them back to Leeds with her for the funeral.

However, the tragedy proved to be the catalyst for a reunion between Mel and her sister Danielle, after years of arguments and disagreements between them — understood to have been sparked by Mel’s family’s dislike of Stephen.

It also helped her to rebuild a relationship with her mum, Andrea, with the singer later vowing to ensure the reunion remains long-term.

Other claims in the court documents include allegations that Belafonte got their nanny pregnant and then paid for her abortion.

A number of other shocking allegations in the court papers include the claim that Stephen repeatedly beat her in jealous rages and subjected her to years of mental and physical abuse.

Mel has said the years of abuse led her to take an overdose in 2014.

A statement released by Belafonte’s rep reads: “I haven’t heard these allegations. You know what my comment on this is, as this is the mother of my children?

“I’m really distraught my brain [sic] how this is going to affect our children. and the depths that she’s gone to. That’s it. I’m shocked at those allegations and that’s what it is.

“I think someone’s set me up to look like a bad guy. Obviously you saw my house got raided and nobody found anything. It’s accusation after accusation. But we’ll have our day in court.

“And we have children. if anyone knows our children, we have beautiful children. They’re on social media. Why do this?

“We were friends two weeks ago. And now all of a sudden the team gets around and now it’s got to be this.”

This story originally appeared in The Sun and is republished here with permission.