Mel B apologized to her fellow Spice Girls for “shutting the door” on them during her turbulent marriage to Stephen Belafonte.
The 48-year-old pop star claims to have suffered physical and mental abuse at the hands of Belafonte – who denies her allegations – during their decade-long marriage which crumbled in 2016 and Mel has admitted she didn’t lean on her bandmates during her time of need.
“[The tour] reminded me how I was before anything really bad started happening. But it was also the first time I’d looked the girls in the face and said, ‘I’m sorry I shut the door on you when all that stuff was happening’.” she eventually opened up to them while they were on tour together in 2019 and she said sorry for keeping them at a distance, telling Red magazine.
Mel detailed her troubled marriage in her 2018 book Brutally Honest and she’s now set to release a revised version featuring extra chapters, and the singer explained she wanted to “acknowledge how far” she’s come in the years since the tome’s release.
“I thought I owed it [adding extra chapters] to anybody who’s dared to pick up the book, dared to read it, dared to leave their abuser – and I know there have been hundreds because I get a lot of emails. I wanted to acknowledge how far I’ve come and show that it is possible to move on after abuse, but it’s not easy. You don’t just wake up one day and go, ‘Okay, I’m fine now.’ You can’t undo or unsee what’s happened to you,” she added to the magazine.
Mel is now engaged to hair stylist Rory McPhee and she says her new relationship has taught her about real love.
“Rory’s given me the ability to understand what honest, true love looks like and what trust looks like with boundaries. It’s very nurturing and very giving. We understand each other. I never thought I’d know how to love again,” she added.
Read the full interview in Red’s March issue, on sale now.
