Mel B’s estranged husband Stephen Belafonte has claimed that the Spice Girls star abused alcohol and drugs over the course of their marriage.
Stephen made the claims during divorce proceedings at an LA court earlier this week.
In response to Mel’s allegations that Stephen had submitted her to physical, sexual and emotional abuse, his lawyers issued a scathing statement hinting that Stephen would be making claims of his own.
"It's a shame that Ms Brown elected not to proceed in a respectful and amicable fashion in this very private matter," a statement read.
"In due course, Mr Belafonte will be filing his response to the outrageous and unfounded allegations made by Ms Brown, which allegations he vehemently denies".
The Hollywood producer submitted a statement claiming Mel jeopardised the safety of their family by drinking and using drugs at the family home, according to The Mirror.
“The biggest reason for my concern with respect to the safety of the children was due to (Brown’s) habitual and consistent addiction to and abuse of cocaine and alcohol,” Stephen wrote.
“(Her) drinking and drug abuse had been a major issue throughout our marriage and was witnessed by the nanny, the children, and her own therapist.
“Simply put, this was a constant problem and issue in our marriage," he added.
The couple who were married for ten years, have one daughter, Madison, aged six, together. Mel also has two older daughters Angel, ten, and Phoenix, 18, from previous relationships.
As part of his testimony, Stephen also made the alarming allegation that Angel didn’t know who her real father was.
“Angel regularly calls me ‘daddy’ or ‘dad’,” he wrote.“In fact, prior to our separation, Angel had no idea that I was not her biological father.”
He told the court that he had helped raise the little girl since she was one month old and asked the court to grant access.
Earlier this year, Mel was granted a restraining order by a judge, after she claimed Stephen had subjected her to horrendous domestic abuse.
Among the shocking allegations, Mel claimed that Stephen choked her, slammed her into the floor, and punched her.
It’s also alleged that Stephen coerced her into having threesomes with other women, threatened to release sex tapes of her, and got their nanny pregnant.
Despite the allegations against her, Mel appears to be getting on with family life as normal and yesterday she posted a sweet photo of Madison to Instagram to celebrate her sixth birthday.
“Happy birthday my sweet baby girl, you are my world my shining star my everything, I just cannot believe today you’re six AND you’re starting big girls’ school sooo much in one day”, she gushed.
