Music News
Mel B denies claims about husband
Tuesday 21 August 2007
Film producer Stephen Belafonte was charged with battery of an ex-girlfriend in May 2003. He pleaded no contest, was placed on probation and ordered to attend a domestic violence programme.
But Mel told Hello! magazine: "Everything I stand for is about being a strong, independent woman, so for him to be seen as a wife-beater is devastating for me because he's not - he never has been.
"The only thing I don't like is that my friends and family read this and go into shock-horror mode, thinking 'Oh, she's married a psychopath'."
Mel said Belafonte had been through counselling and is "fully aware of what he's done", adding: "They're trying to make him out to be this aggressive, violent, woman-hitter, and he's not. He's never hit a woman. If you read those police reports, they never say he physically beat up a woman."
The 32-year-old star secretly wed Belafonte in June after a whirlwind romance. He proposed to her by hiding an engagement ring in her drink. Mel said: "I took one big, deep breath and said 'Yes'. As well as going, 'Thank you, God! Don't let me down. Not for the third time."'
And she said of their Las Vegas wedding: "We didn't take pictures, we didn't dress up for it. We landed, got our registration, were crying with laughter and love, and got married. We just wanted to do it for us."
Mel, aka Scary Spice, is currently involved in a legal battle with actor Eddie Murphy over maintenance for their baby daughter, Angel.
She was previously married to dancer Jimmy Gulzar, with whom she had another daughter, Phoenix Chi, and they divorced in 2000.
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