‘Powerless’: Spice Girl Mel B recounts years of hell living with abusive ex

Spice Girl Mel B has held back tears as she recounted her 10 years of hell living with an abusive ex who she said left her “powerless”.

Spice Girl Mel B has recounted her years of feeling “powerless” while living with an abusive ex as she demanded action on domestic abuse at a conference in the UK.

At the event, hosted by The Sun and abuse survivors’ charity Women’s Aid, the pop star, 47, asked: “How many more must die?”

Mel B held back tears as she shared her story and called on government ministers to better fund abuse support services.

“I’m not here because I’m Mel B, Scary Spice from Spice Girls. I’m here because I’m Melanie Brown,” she said.

“As a Spice Girl I’m the embodiment of girl power, and for 10 years I was completely powerless over this man.”

The pop icon lambasted the “old boys’ club” of judges who assume women can only have suffered domestic abuse if they have “one tooth and live on a council estate”.

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The pop icon spoke about how domestic abuse didn’t discriminate across ‘race, gender, sexuality, whether you’re thin or curvy’. Picture: Sean Dempsey/Press Association/AFP

And she warned that she believed she would be dead if she had been forced to stay with her abusive ex during lockdown.

The audience repeatedly broke out into applause as she recounted her story.

“I got to a point where I actually wanted to die by committing suicide,” she said. “Fortunately enough, it didn’t happen. But the relationship I was in – there was no way out. I couldn’t pick up the phone to call my mum or my friends.”

The America’s Got Talent and X Factor star revealed how at home she was suffering in silence, despite her glamorous showbiz career on stage.

“I’m here to say that abuse happens to everyone, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, whether you’re thin or curvy,” she said.

“I’m a self-made pretty successful woman who almost took her own life, and that’s because I was trapped.”

Mel spoke about trying to leave her ex – who she never mentioned by name – multiple times.

Mel B leaves a courthouse in Los Angeles during divorce proceedings with ex Stephen Belafonte in 2017. Picture: AFP / Robyn Beck

She claimed he continually manipulated her back into his grip, ­emotionally trapping her in their LA home.

The singer said he took her money and passport, and even dictated what she wore – allegations which were also made in her bitter divorce battle with ex Stephen Belafonte in 2018. Belafonte has denied abusing Mel B.

“I was completely isolated from my friends and family. And it didn’t happen overnight. It happened bit by bit by bit. They chip away at you,” she said.

She was finally able to break free from the relationship after her dad Martin Brown died.

As he drew his final breath, she told him: “Don’t you worry, Dad, I will leave him.”

A pin drop could be heard as Conservative Party politicians at the conference took in the star’s powerful story.

The performer was part of a panel including British Home Office Minister Mims Davies, UK Women’s Aid CEO Farah Nazeer, UK police lead for domestic abuse Maggie Blyth, and The Sun’s Kate Ferguson.

The Spice Girl appeared on this year’s season of the Masked Singer Australia.

Mel B urged Ms Davies for funding to help vulnerable women.

She called on the Minister to reform the courts so survivors are not forced to sit near their abusers. And she blasted judges for picking and choosing who has been abused based on looks or wealth.

The singer told Ms Davies over and over: “We’re survivors, not victims.”

Mel B’s experience motivated her to be a Women’s Aid patron, travelling up and down the country fighting for survivors.

She said: “I’m probably the last person you’d expect to find at a Tory party conference. I can’t quite believe I’m here myself. But I’m here because I chose to speak out about domestic abuse. And I spoke at a time when nobody else was talking about that.”

The singer published a tell-all memoir in 2018.

She won plaudits all around the world for her honesty, turning a taboo topic into an important conversation.

“I’m holding the flag for the other survivors that don’t have a voice or are too worried to speak,” she said.

Women’s Aid said: “As Scary Spice Mel asked at our event at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, how many more women must die? Built on 20 years of The Sun campaigning on domestic abuse, our Speak Out campaign asks everyone to step up and do what they can to help.”

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission