Mel B beams as she arrives back in Los Angeles after revealing she’d cut off tattoo dedicated to ex Stephen Belafonte
MEL B looked in good spirits as she arrived back in Los Angeles after revealing she’s cut off the tattoo dedicated to her ex Stephen Belafonte.
The former Spice Girl flashed a smile following her trip to Vegas alongside her hairdresser and good friend Gary Madatyan.
Dressed down, the 42-year-old wore a grey tracksuit featuring a star print and a pink cap as she pushed two large suitcases.
It comes after she revealed her scar for the first time after having her ex husband’s name cut out of her skin.
The former Spice Girl showed the results of the surgery after having 13 stitches on her rib cage to remove the seven-year-old inking for good.
Posing in a gold sequinned skirt and top, the 42-year-old proved that Stephen’s name was well and truly removed from her body.
The offending tattoo read “Stephen, till death do us part you own my heart” – but Mel has now had her ex's name cut away from her flesh.
Instead of going through a lengthy, and equally painful, laser removal process Mel opted to have a local anaesthetic to have the skin taken off.
Explaining the shocking decision to go under the knife, 42-year-old Mel said: “I wanted the tattoo removed to help close the final chapter on a toxic relationship.
“Even though I’ve taken the steps to remove Stephen’s name from my body, the domestic abuse will forever remain with me.”
She had 13 stitches after his name was cut out
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Other tattoos Mel has include various tribal art inkings, a Chinese character on her stomach, a large dragon on her left shoulder blade, a phoenix on her right arm and her ex-boyfriend Eddie Murphy’s name on her hip.
Leeds native Mel filed for divorce from Hollywood filmmaker Stephen – who she wed in 2007 – in March this year.
During a bitter court battle, accusations were made against Stephen that he has been abusive to Mel, splashed cash carelessly and got the family nanny pregnant – while he claimed Mel has had an addiction problem that made her a bad mum.
TMZ claims they have now decided to share custody and to arrange a schedule for physical care between them, though neither is paying child support.
The couple have a six-year-old daughter called Madison, while Stephen was also dad to Mel’s daughters Phoenix, 18, and Angel, 10.