Mel B says being away from her youngest daughter during the COVID-19 pandemic is “the hardest thing” she’s ever had to deal with.
Mel B
The Spice Girls star shares custody of her nine-year-old Madison with her ex-husband Stephen Belafonte, and due to strict travel restrictions imposed by the ongoing health crisis, she has been forced to go months without seeing her daughter because she’s been unable to make regular trips from Leeds to California.
She said: "I’ve been a single parent for a long time, as I’ve always been the one who financially and emotionally supported my family.
"Unfortunately, due to the justice system, a difficult situation with my ex, and the fact that my youngest is an American citizen, I have shared care of Madison – and because of COVID, flying between America and the UK has been really difficult. Not having my baby with me for months at a time is the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with."
Mel is also mother to Phoenix, 22, and Angel, 14 – whom she has with Jimmy Gulzar and Eddie Murphy respectively – also spoke about the struggles she faced with home schooling her two youngest daughters, as she said she now ha “so much respect” for teachers.
She added to OK! magazine: "I have so much sympathy for all the parents who went through home schooling, and so much respect for teachers.
"I had no problems with Angel because she’s 14 and pretty academic. Madi loves school but she’s nine, and her classes were in LA so we had some pretty late lessons. As far as juggling is concerned, my life has been one long juggling act, but now I can lean on my family, which is a massive thing for me."
Meanwhile, the 46-year-old singer recently revealed she had contemplated taking her own life during her marriage to Stephen, whom she accused in 2018 of being physically and verbally abusive.
She said earlier this year: "I tried to leave seven times, so you can imagine how desperate I was in those 10 years. I didn’t have anywhere to go, I didn’t have my own credit card, I didn’t have a car, I’ve got three kids, I was very on the edge of self-destruction.
"I self-medicated. I tried everything but trying to end it all, because that to me would mean he would win."
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