Mel B begged her suspicious friends not to tell the police about her estranged husband Stephen Belafonte’s alleged abuse because she was terrified he’d try and "kill" her.
The 41-year-old singer has just been been granted a restraining order against her ex-partner after she claimed in court documents he’d beat her, got their nanny pregnant and forced her to have threesomes during their 10-year marriage.
And, although friends grew suspicious of the bruises popping up on her skin, Mel pleaded with them not to report the 41-year-old film producer because she feared for her life.
A source told TMZ: "Some of the people who confronted her said they were going to call the cops and report him, but she became emotional and begged them to stand down, and not just because she was in fear for her life. She believed anyone who blew the whistle on Belafonte would become his target."
However, despite Mel’s determination to keep her abusive relationship under wraps, her former ‘X Factor’ boss Simon Cowell grew suspicious and tried to help her get in touch with a divorce lawyer after she tried to overdose on Aspirin due to stress before the show’s live finale in 2014.
A source told The Sun newspaper: "Although no-one was sure what was going on, Simon and the team at Syco really became concerned at ‘The X Factor’ finale in 2014.
"In the days afterwards, following her release from hospital, they tried to help her leave Belafonte. They introduced her to divorce lawyers to help her to go through with it."
A Syco spokesperson added: "Melanie is hugely admired and respected by everyone at Syco and on both ‘The X Factor’ and ‘America’s Got Talent’.
"We have always supported her whenever she has requested and we will continue to do so."
The former Spice Girl – who filed for divorce from her ex-beau last month – alleged the abuse started within the first year of their marriage in 2007 and became a reoccurring "pattern" for the then-couple with Stephen allegedly choosing to "beat her down to let her know he was in charge" whenever she saw a spike in her career.
Mel – who has five-year-old daughter Madison with Stephen – wasn’t just subject to physical and emotional abuse either, as Stephen also reportedly got their nanny pregnant and suggested "all three of us" live together with the baby.
However, the nanny was later paid a reported $300,000 to have an abortion, the documents claim.
It was previously claimed that the estranged couple had an "open and loose relationship" but Mel states that Stephen actually forced her to have "intercourse with him and random women."
He then secretly filmed the steamy trysts and allegedly threatened to release the sex tapes if she didn’t co-operate.
Mel has claimed she had previously tried to leave Stephen but he "threatened me with violence and threatened to destroy my life in every possible way … destroy my career and take my kids from me."
Stephen has denied all the allegations against him and says he has been left "distraught" by her claims.
He told TMZ: "I haven’t heard these allegations. You know what my comment on this is, as this is the mother of my children? I’m really really distraught in my brain by how this is going to affect our children and the depths that she’s gone to. I’m shocked at those allegations and that’s what it is. I think someone’s set me up to look like a bad guy. Obviously you saw my house got raided and nobody found anything. It’s accusation after accusation. But we’ll have our day in court. And we have children. if anyone knows our children, we have beautiful children. They’re on social media. Why do this? We were friends two weeks ago. And now all of a sudden the team gets around and now it’s got to be this."
As well as Madison with Stephen, Mel also has Phoenix, 18, with her first husband Jimmy Gulzar and nine-year-old daughter Angel with Eddie Murphy.
Mel B begged fans not to report ‘abusive’ husband
