Mel B has been granted a restraining order against estranged husband Stephen Belafonte after alleging he subjected her to years of abuse.
The former Spice Girls star split from Stephen last month (Mar17), with their break-up coming as a shock to millions of her fans. Just weeks earlier the mother-of-three had posted a gushing tribute to her spouse on social media.
However, now legal papers have emerged alleging the singer and her children fear for their lives at the hands of Stephen who reportedly subjected the presenter to years of abuse.
In a declaration to a Los Angeles court, which was obtained by TMZ.com, Mel details the alleged abuse committed by her husband starting with an incident from November 2007. Mel explained in the statement she was getting ready at home for the finale of Dancing With The Stars, when she claims, "Stephen placed both of his hands around her neck, began choking her and slammed her down onto the hardwood floors", TMZ reports. In addition, she claims Stephen would "beat me down to let me know he was in charge."
Jealousy was reportedly a major issue for Stephen, with Mel detailing another incident in July 2012 when she taped a segment with singer Usher. Before filming the clip, Stephen is said to have flown into a jealous rage and punched Mel with a closed fist - splitting her lip. When the singer asked him how she was meant to work on television with such an injury, he apparently replied that she should have thought of that before deciding to "flirt with and f**k Usher".
Other claims include Mel saying that Stephen has sex tapes of the pair and has repeatedly threatened to release them. He is also said to have made this threat if she ever resisted any threesomes he wanted her to participate in.
Mel also alleges that Stephen got their nanny pregnant, and then told his wife he wanted to have the baby and "all three of us live together." In the end, he demanded the nanny get an abortion, and allegedly paid her more than $300,000 (£241,271) of Mel's money "for alleged nanny services."
In 2014, Mel claims she was overcome with "emotional and physical exhaustion" and took an entire bottle of Aspirin. When she tried to call 999, she alleges that Stephen stopped her from doing so, threw her in the bedroom and locked the door behind him, telling the singer to "die, b**ch".
The statement continues to reveal that Mel has tried to leave Stephen many times but claims "(he) threatened me with violence and threatened to destroy my life in every possible way ... destroy my career and take my kids from me."
After the judge awarded the restraining order and forced Stephen to move out of the Hollywood Hills home he shares with his wife, he was filmed moving his belongings on Monday afternoon (03Apr17).
When asked about Mel's claims by TMZ, Stephen denied everything.
