Mel B says her abusive marriage to Stephen Belafonte almost cost her her life and her family as she moves home to the UK
MEL B has admitted she almost lost her life during her marriage to abusive ex-husband Stephan Belafonte.
The Spice Girl - who recently completed the UK revival tour of the chart-topping girlband - divorced her ex in 2017 amid a high profile battle and has been rebuilding her life ever since.
She told magazine: "In the process of my marriage I lost my family, my friends, my self-respect and I almost lost my life and for so long I felt ashamed."
Mel wrote about the disastrous marriage in her book Brutally Honest, which she is now touring the UK with to talk about her experiences.
She alleged her forced her into secretly-filmed threesomes, exercised coercive control over and left her afraid for her life during their decade long relationship.
In 2014 she tried to take her own life at a particular low point and shocked fans when she appeared on the X Factor bruised and unwell just days later, an appearance she said in her book was the beginning of her fightback against him.
The pop star found the strength to end her marriage after the death of her father, and reunited with her long-estranged family in the UK.
And Mel has recently moved back to the north of England after 15 years in Los Angeles and says she has never felt more at home.
She said: "To be honest, for a long time I didn't know who I really was. I've always been known as loud, wild, big-mouth Scary Spice and that is part of me, but it's not all of me.
"All I know is I've never felt more relaxed, more myself and happier since I've been here. I feel entirely comfortable in my own skin."
She now has her family within ten minutes of her new house and is surrounded by her family and her animals including four beehvies and her own hens.
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Mel added: "It's life as it should be. I like the peace, I like the animals, I spend hours just watching the bees going in and out of the hives.
"I spent ten years of my life avoiding home, not speaking to my family, not seeing my friends and now I'm back just a few miles from where I grew up.
"I always felt I needed to break away and prove myself to the whole world, but now I realise the most important thing to me is to come home, mend bridges, be a mother, a daughter, an aunt and a sister."
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