Mel B’s marriage "almost" cost her her life.
The Spice Girls star divorced Stephen Belafonte in 2017 amidst claims he was physically and emotionally abusive towards her and she believes she lost a lot throughout the ten year marriage including her "self-respect".
She said: "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. I thought I was stupid, that everything that happened was my fault. I had never heard of a coercive relationship. Even after I left him I never realised so many other women have almost exactly the same story to tell. It was only after my book came out that I realised emotional abuse is an epidemic that affects millions. It’s the shame that makes you suffer in silence. But I am no longer ashamed."
And the 44-year-old singer has confessed she "avoided" people because she was so ashamed of what her life had become.
Speaking to The Mail on Sunday’s Event magazine, she added: "My life was a mess. I didn’t want anyone to know so I just avoided people and pretended everything was great. I was on the biggest TV show in America, I was living in beautiful big mansions in LA and flying round the world appearing on shows in the UK and Australia. Everyone thought I must be doing brilliantly, but the real story was so different from the image I presented to the world. Since the age of 19, when I first became a Spice Girl, I’d been this super-confident version of myself that everyone knew as Mel B. Geri says it’s a Batman suit because I could hide the quieter, more sensitive side of me. I thought I couldn’t ever tell the whole story because it would destroy me. But now I just tell everything like it is, good, bad, whatever – it doesn’t always go down well with everyone though.
Mel B: My marriage nearly cost my life
