Mel B says estranged husband Stephen Belafonte physically abused and blackmailed her
Mel B says her estranged husband, Stephen Belafonte, was abusing her for years.
The singer and “America’s Got Talent” judge -- whose real name is Melanie Brown -- filed a restraining order claiming that Belafonte blackmailed her, choked her and forced her into sex with other women, among other allegations, reports ET.
She wrote in the filing that she tried to leave him several times before the couple separated in December, but Belafonte said he would “destroy” her life in “every possible way.”
“I desperately wanted to leave the relationship and tried to do so during our first year of marriage and every year thereafter,” Brown alleged in the court papers. “When I threatened to leave, [he] informed me he has videos of our sex life and other private moments. [He] would threaten that if I left, he would release the videos to the tabloids. I have lived the past decade in fear that [he] would release intimate videos of me that would embarrass me and damage my reputation and my career.”
Brown also said he forced her into group sex.
“[He] often times demanded that I participate in sexual intercourse with him and random women that he brought back to our hotel rooms,” she said. “If I objected to participating, he would threaten to release compromising videos of me. He would often times surreptitiously videotape these encounters, and, if I discovered the recordings, would beg him to delete them.”
The couple married in 2007 after dating for two months. Brown said the physical violence in their relationship began in November of that year, when he allegedly choked her after her finale on “Dancing with the Stars.” Brown added that Belafonte’s physical violence usually followed successful moments in her career.
Brown also said that in 2012, Belafonte punched her in the face after she flirted with Usher on an “X-Factor” episode. She said that she had to pretend she fell in a pair of high heels after paparazzi took photos of her with a split lip.
In addition to the abuse allegations, Brown alleged that Belafonte got the family’s nanny pregnant and forced her to get an abortion.
In Brown’s temporary restraining order, the former Spice Girl said she’s in “fear of her safety” and for her three children. The judge granted the restraining order and instructed Belafonte to leave their Hollywood Hills home.