Mel B says she doesn’t think she trusts police enough to report domestic abuse.
Mel B says she doesn’t think she trusts police enough to report domestic abuse
The 47-year-old Spice Girl – who claimed she was in an abusive relationship with her ex-husband Stephen Belafonte and become a patron of Women’s Aid campaigns – added officers need to be educated on the signs someone is being targeted by a toxic or violent partner, and said she feared they wouldn’t take such allegations “seriously”.
She told BBC Two’s Newsnight in an interview that will air on Wednesday (01.03.23) night: “I wouldn’t (call police), because I wouldn’t know if they would take it (domestic abuse) seriously.
“Like, if I’m living here and I want to report it to the police, I don’t know if I can trust the police. I don’t know if they’re going to take my allegations seriously.
The mum-of-three – who had daughter Madison, 11, with Stephen, and has Phoenix, 22, with her ex Jimmy Gulzar and Angel, 15, with Eddie Murphy – warned “younger and younger” people are becoming trapped in abusive relationships as “kids” are now being more intimate earlier.
Mel also branded the issue of domestic violence an “epidemic” in her chat.
She split from film producer Stephen, 47, in 2017 and claimed he had emotionally and physically abused her during their 10-year marriage – which he has strongly denied.
Mel, who split from Stephen in 2017, said during her recent appearance on Fox’s ‘Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test’ she had been living in fear and hoped the show’s endurance course would help her regain her inner power.
She added: “I ended up being in a very horrible abusive 10 year relationship. I felt worthless, you feel helpless. I’m facing huge fears.
“I’m just going to bring out that inner person that I hope isn’t dead and gone.”
The full Newsnight interview airs at 11pm on Wednesday on BBC Two and can be seen on BBC iPlayer.
Tagged in Mel B Stephen Belafonte Phoenix