Mel B’s Heartbreaking Experience With Emotional Abuse Shows How Long-Lasting the Effects Can Be

Trigger Warning: This article contains mention of emotional abuse.

While Mel B‘s time as Sporty Spice in the Spice Girls cemented herself in entertainment history, it’s her openness about suffering from emotional abuse that has touched the hearts of fans worldwide. Most recently, the America’s Got Talent judge, who broke up with her allegedly abusive ex-husband, Stephen Belafonte, in 2017 after 10 years together, opened up about the lingering effects of their relationship.

Speaking candidly to Attitude Magazine, the singer clarified that leaving an abusive relationship is not the only step in moving forward. “It’s not a happy ending of, ‘Oh, you’ve left them now,'” she said. “As much as that’s what I’m striving for, you have to be honest and realistic.”

“My mum, when I lived with her in 2019, thought, ‘Just have a bath. You’ll be fine,’” she remembered. Actually healing, however, took much more effort. “I had to re-educate my mum and myself,” she said. “Even if you leave and you’re not financially abused, you have to learn how to stand on your own two feet, how to have an opinion on what you want to wear, how you want to be in life. Especially if there are kids involved, it’s not easy.”

Remembering her worst moments with Belafonte, Mel said he would allegedly call her names. “He’d say, ‘You look old.’ ‘You look fat.’ ‘God, you are ugly.’ ‘Your arms are flabby,’” she said, per Page Six.

“In a way, those comments are like rain,” she reflected. “They seep right into you, they wash away self-confidence, your sense of self, and when you look in the mirror, you don’t see a strong, happy woman — you see a reflection of what you’re told, ‘fat, ugly, old … worthless.’”

Years since their split in 2017, however, we hope Mel has healed those inner battles and can see herself as the successful, strong and beautiful woman she is. We applaud her for speaking out.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of emotional or physical, you can get help. To speak with someone who is trained to help with these situations, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800.799.SAFE (7233) or chat online at www.thehotline.org/

Before you go, click here to see celebrities who have opened up about surviving sexual assault.