Mel B’s daughter Phoenix felt "somewhat responsible" for her mom’s mental health struggles.
The Spice Girls star’s 20-year-old daughter – who Mel has with ex Jimmy Gulzar – has confessed she blamed herself for the struggle her mom went through including a battle with post traumatic stress disorder, which Mel claims was from her alleged abusive relationship with ex Stephen Belafonte.
Phoenix said in a video message: "It was pretty hard watching my mum go through that. Just being in that situation with everything that went down with my family. We grew up pretty fast. Every kid going through a traumatic experience would blame themselves just because they feel somewhat responsible because that’s your mum. That’s your family. You only get one and you want to do everything to try and help them and when you can’t and you feel helpless, you’re like, ‘damn I think this is partly my fault’. But it’s never the kid’s fault. It wasn’t easy but I had my family and I stayed pretty strong. I mean my mum was Scary Spice, you can’t be a wimp. My mum is such an independent woman, it shocks me. She can just be amazing on TV but be so nervous and you wouldn’t even think she was nervous. She is just a natural. She is a good mum and a good friend. I love you and you are doing great."
Mel has revealed that hearing other people’s stories about abuse made her realise that what she went through wasn’t right.
Speaking on ITV’s Lorraine, she added: "Unfortunately I experienced a ten year marriage that was very, very abusive on every single level. When I got out, I decided it was about time that I spoke about it and by speaking about it, I didn’t realise how many people had been in the same situation. I discovered that because I was made patron of [charity] Women’s Aid and met ladies in refuges that had fled their abusive relationships to get help. They really helped me. Our stories are very similar. My story is their story, their story is my story. A lot of the women did suffer and do suffer still from PTSD and anxiety. It’s everything that I went through and am still going through because of that abusive relationship."
Mel B’s daughter Phoenix felt responsible for mom’s struggles
