Mel B was forced to shop in budget stores after her split from Stephen Belafonte.
The 48-year-old pop star has earned more than one hundred million dollars during the course of her music career – but Mel’s acrimonious split from her ex-husband has seen her return to her “Leeds roots” after living in Los Angeles for years.
“People will assume, ‘She’s rich, she’s a Spice Girl.”
“But I went from performing to thousands at Wembley on the Spice Girls’ 13-date Reunion Tour in 2019 to squeezing into my mum’s with my kids sleeping in bed with me,” Mel – who filed for a divorce in March 2017, accusing her then-husband of emotional and physical abuse – told The Sun newspaper.
“I didn’t expect that to happen in my 40s after a successful career, but I had nowhere else to go. Because I was so badly affected financially from my relationship, I had to pick up the pieces,” she added.
Mel has actually enjoyed living a more modest lifestyle since she returned to the UK.
“In LA I hadn’t bought a pint of milk in years. But back home I would buy in bulk from Costco and got really into shopping in Aldi and Lidl. It was COVID times and I would put on my face mask and no one would recognize me. I stood in a queue for the first time in a long time. No one batted an eyelid,” the Spice Girls star explained.
Mel has managed to transform her life since her divorce, and she’s really enjoyed “reclaiming [her] power.”
“After being in an abusive relationship for years you really have to rebuild yourself inside and out. Nobody can do that apart from you,” she shared.
“Having to budget and learn how much a packet of crisps costs again kind of felt like me reclaiming my power. I felt I went back to my Leeds roots, and I have never forgotten where I came from,” she added.
