When Mel B first got together with Stephen Belafonte there were a lot of stories about how shady he was. He reportedly abused the mother of his child and plead guilty on a battery charge for that in 2003. Stephen also had a fine lodged against him for killing a duck with a brick outside his house. Mel married him anyway and we’ve heard rumors several times that they’ve broken up and that he abuses her, which they have both denied and which he likened to a “witch hunt.” They have a five year-old daughter together, Madison, and Mel has two older daughters from other relationships while Stephen has one other daughter. Mel has filed for divorce after ten years and is requesting joint custody and no spousal support to Stephen. Her filing lists December 28th as their separation date.
In divorce papers obtained by PEOPLE, Brown listed the date of separation as December 28 and asked for joint legal and physical custody of their daughter, Madison Brown Belfonte, 5.
She has also requested to terminate the court’s ability to award spousal support.
Brown and Belafonte, 41, married in 2007 after five months of dating. The two have a blended family — including daughter Madison, Brown’s daughters Angel Iris Murphy Brown, 9, and Phoenix Chi Gulzar, 17 (from her relationships with ex-boyfriend Eddie Murphy and ex-husband Jimmy Gulzar, respectively), and Giselle Belafonte, 12 (from his relationship with ex-girlfriend Nicole Contreras).
As People points out, Mel posted a photo of Stephen to Instagram just last month with a message about how much she loves him and how they’ve been through so much together. So I would assume that they haven’t been separated since December as her filing states.
The Daily Mail has photos of Stephen hugging another woman at a restaurant in NY this January. He was there to support Mel, who was performing on Broadway in Chicago. The photos don’t look that scandalous, it could just be a friend, but you never know. Mel just lost her father to cancer earlier this month, she was estranged from him due to her relationship with Stephen, although she was able to be by his bedside before he passed. I think she’s well rid of Stephen but we’ll see how this plays out. I’m expecting to hear more details in the days to come.
photos credit: WENN.com
Maybe they did separate in December, then briefly reconciled or had a brief hook up, and then split up again. Lots of couples go back and forth before the *final* break, right? I wouldn’t really question the dates in her legal documentation based on a twitter post.
TBH I’m surprised they lasted this long, he always had the shady stank of Grift/aggro to him
Deliberately calling himself Belafonte knowing we’d all assume the obvious……yep! Grifter!
I don’t get the Belafonte reference how is it bad? I’m a bit younger so I’m lost.
Miss Grace Jones; Harry Belafonte = great singer, mediocre actor. Very famous man who just happened to be a bald and light skinned black dude. It’s an unusual name and seeing as this wanker is bald and light skinned I think he thought that people would make an assumption about his paternity. I know I did.
I’d add civil rights and social justice activist to Harry Belafonte’s descriptors. And all-around decent and admired dude. So, the opposite of this clown.
I don’t know about her, but this bitch doesn’t wish I had a man who squashes ducks with bricks.
and yes auto correct, this time I did mean duck
Right? I mean, I can’t fathom being with someone who could kill a living thing in such a violent manner. I find the idea quite traumatic…
Yeah. It’s pretty ducking gross.
He seems so sleazy.
@minx…took the word outa my mouth. 50 shades of smarmy
Am I the only one finding it funny that in the first pic the are standing in front of the Karma International logo?!
He will take her for all the money. Marrying someone who calls themself Belafonte is a bit like marrying someone who changed his name legally to Ned Rocknroll. It has car crash all over it.
I hope she is able to stay away from him. Sadly she seems trapped in a cycle of abuse. The signs are there.
On average a woman leaves her abuser 7 times before she leaves for good.Stephen the Scammer is an jerk who changed his name from Stansbury to Belafonte to mislead people.I just had to curse out an idiot on IG who called me ignorant and said he doesn’t need her money because Harry is his father.SMH.
I hope the death of her father made her realize life is too short to be in an unhealthy marriage.
He’s been to the Donald Trump School of A-holes Who Point at Things.
I don’t think anyone wishes they had that.