MEL B has revealed her agony at being separated from her daughter and has admitted “it’s like having an arm cut off”.
The Spice Girl bravely opened up to The Sun in an exclusive chat this week.
Melanie Brown, 48, returned to her native Leeds in 2019 — a year after leaving her abusive marriage with ex Stephen Belafonte.
But she was so drained of cash following the ten-year marriage she was forced to move in to mum Andrea’s bungalow with her three kids.
And a continuing hurt has been separation from youngest child Madison, since courts ruled after expensive custody wrangling that, as a US citizen, the 12-year-old must live with dad Belafonte, who also has daughter Giselle, 19.
Mel, also mum to 16-year-old Angel, from a romance with actor Eddie Murphy, and Phoenix, 25, from a previous marriage to dancer Jimmy Gulzar, now sees Madison only in school holidays.
She says: “It is like having an arm cut off. She is my baby. I have spent a fortune on legal battles but at least she spends big chunks of time here.
“In the eyes of the court I’m the big earner and have to pay his court fees as well as my own.
“I’ve been campaigning through my work on behalf of Women’s Aid for the court system to better understand financial abuse.”
Mel reached a divorce settlement in August 2018 which involved all abuse charges being dropped.
Pivotal in rebuilding her self-esteem has been her fiancé, Leeds hairdresser Rory McPhee, 36.
She says: “He is a family friend and I have known him for a long time. So there was a foundation of trust and respect.
It is like having an arm cut off. She is my baby. I have spent a fortune on legal battles but at least she spends big chunks of time here.
Mel B
“And he is a great hairdresser! When I came back home in 2019 he nurtured my curls back and at the same time nurtured my trust and affection, and it just grew bit by bit.
“I kept pushing him away, saying, ‘I’m damaged goods’.
“But Rory can’t even understand how someone would even raise their voice to a woman. He is a great influence on me. If I am getting manic he can calm me.”
This year marks three decades since the Spice Girls formed and rumours of reunion gigs have been rife, although Sporty Spice (Mel C) yesterday claimed it was just talk.
Mel B adds: “All our mums get along. If there is a bit of a tiff or we get excited about something, all the mums seem to know everything first.
“My mum will be like, ‘I just got off the phone to Pauline (Baby Spice Emma Bunton’s mother) and I hear you are doing . . . ’”
MEL’S SUPPORT SYSTEM
Her bandmates have always been supportive.
She says: “Emma bawled her eyes out when she read my book (2018 memoir Brutally Honest).
“But there was nothing she or any of them could have done, I lied to everyone about my relationship, including myself.”
Mel says the band have recently supported Ginger Spice (Geri Horner) who has stood by her husband, Red Bull F1 boss Christian Horner, amid a probe into claims — which he vehemently denies — that he sent suggestive texts to a female colleague.
Mel says: “We have a WhatsApp group and we have sent messages.”
Mel has a packed diary this year, but many engagements seem a long way from her jet-set Spice days.
She says: “I’m going to Buckingham Palace in a few weeks for an International Women’s Day event with the Queen.
“Later in the year I am addressing the Women’s Institute at the Royal Albert Hall. It’s mad, I’m joining the Jam and Jerusalem crowd.”
Mel’s updated Brutally Honest, written with Louise Gannon (Quadrille, £10.99), is republished on March 7.