X Factor's Mel B on how she makes her marriage work and why she doesn't miss the UK

Former Scary Spice talks to Halina Watts about not standing up to Simon Cowell and why her family are wrong about her husband

Candid: Mel B
Scary X Factor judge Melanie B insists she has a softer side to her character. Maybe she does, but she’s not showing it off today.

We’re in Cancun, Mexico, for the Judges’ Houses stage of the show and Mel is being typically blunt. With her band of hopeful boy contestants she is open and honest, interrupting them during their songs and giving them good, constructive pointers.
With me, the visiting reporter, her answers are curt and to the point. For example, she has lived abroad for 15 years following a bitter feud with her family. When I ask if she misses Britain she says: “I go back to England so often for work that I’m not away from it enough to miss it.” Subject closed.

© Tom DymondStar: Mel B with Halina Watts

In fact Mel, 39, is moving back here for three months for The X Factor’s live stages. She’s bringing her three kids and her American husband Stephen Belafonte, 38, the man her sister Danielle accuses of tearing the family apart.

Mel’s mum Andrea, 58, is desperate to end the feud and repair relations, particularly while the three grandchildren are in the country. But it doesn’t seems likely.

All ties were severed following an ­argument in 2007 when Mel and Stephen renewed their wedding vows amid claims he had driven a wedge between his wife and her folks back in Leeds.

In 2012 Danielle, now 33, added fuel to the bitter row when she said: “I would never tell her to leave him. She can be with whoever she wants to be with, even if we find him controlling and not a nice person.”

And dad Martin, 60, added: “I just want to speak to her so I know those children are happy. If she wants this strange ­relationship, that’s her choice.

“She’s my daughter and I love her to bits.”

But when I mention Stephen’s name to Mel in Mexico, she lights up with smiles. And quickly denies Danielle’s accusation that Stephen is “controlling”.

“My husband let’s me get on with ­whatever I want to do,” she says.

Stephen is not among the X Factor entourage in Cancun but it does include Mel’s old Spice Girl bandmate Emma Bunton, who is helping her to decide which of her six boys will make the final stages.


In love: Mel B and Stephen Belafonte

“Stephen came out with me but has flown back to America to look after the kids so I could have some girly time with Emma,” explains former Spice Girl Mel.

Her husband of seven years, a film producer, has a history of violence. He was sentenced to probation and sent on a course for domestic violence “batterers” after an assault on his ex in 2003.

And he was caught up in a violent brawl with two men in London four years ago.

But Mel is still totally smitten. To keep their love alive they have regular date nights and she’s even bought Stephen his own island off the US east coast state of Virginia.


Comparing her marriage to Baby Spice Emma’s relationship with Jade Jones, she asks me: “You know Emma and Jade have been together for 15 years and do you know what she’s wearing under there? Leather!

“They are friends and they still fancy each other and love each other. That’s the key to any successful relationship. You get on, you argue, you love each other. I laugh at Stephen a lot. He’s a loud ­American sometimes, but he’s great. I bought him an island for his birthday – it’s secretly as much for me too though.”

Mel has regular stints in therapy, where she delights in complaining about Stephen.

“I have had therapy and I like it,” she says. “Usually I bitch and moan about my husband. Silly things like he likes to sleep with the TV on but it keeps me awake.

“There is a debate every night. He ends up winning because he puts something on that I actually want to watch.”


©SYCO /THAMES TV/ITVMEL B and EMMA BUNTON



Another vital ingredient of their marriage is lots and lots of sex. Mel has revealed they are at it five times a day, so there may be a few naughty games backstage when the live shows kick off next week. She says: “There will be Twister – naked Twister! But if my kids are with me then kids’ stuff. Briberies. It’ll be like, ‘Take this lollipop, sit in the audience and don’t cry.’ ”

Mel’s brood consists of Phoenix Chi, 15, by dancer Jimmy Gulzar, Angel, six, born after her fling with film star Eddy Murphy, and Madison, three, by Stephen.

“My kids keep me right down to earth,” she says. “They watch the show and Phoenix will say, ‘Why did you say that mum?’ Or, ‘Why did you pick that person?’

“I try and embarrass my kids but they know too much about me so don’t get embarrassed.

“My husband did a ­cartwheel down the shopping aisle the other day and they were like, ‘Yeah, do it again’.”

Mel has no plans to offer relationship advice to her fellow judges Cheryl Fernandez-Versini or Simon Cowell.

“Whatever I’m doing works for me and whatever they are doing I’m sure it works for them,” she says bluntly.

This tell-it-like-it-is style mirrors her tough on-screen persona as she chooses which three of her nervous performers to put through to the live shows.

“Some of them buckled under the pressure, which is understandable,” she says. “It’s not an audience – it’s just a circle with me and Emma standing there. It’s a lot for them to take on.

“But they have to work their toosh off. It’s dedication and giving yourself to your career.”


PAMentors: X-Factor judging panel



While she is forthcoming about her contenders, Mel can be less open about herself. She only seems to relax a little when Baby Spice Emma appears.

She says: “Emma knows me and she knows that I’m a softie in some ways. My friends know me and I don’t care what anybody else thinks.

“There has been so much said about me in the past. If you know me you know I’m honest and real.

“I don’t really hold anything back whether that be my disapproval or my approval.

“I can be a hard-ass, a bad-ass and I can also be very emotional and connected. I was always told ‘never be put in a box’ and I never will be.”

But one man she won’t stand up to is show boss Cowell. She tells me: “This is Simon’s show, he created it. You don’t want to p*** your boss off.”

And she doesn’t mind that she’s sitting away from him on the judging panel, between Louis Walsh and Cheryl.


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“But I like where I’m sitting. Louis is so funny,” she says. “He is the seasoned old guy. We are having a lot of fun and it’s good that we are all getting on.”

Would she like to perform on the show as a singer?

“Ooh, I don’t know about that,” she says, taken aback. “It’s about the ­contestants – it’s not about me.”

With an awkwardly cool atmosphere hanging in the warm Cancun air, Mel gets up arm-in-arm with Emma and walks back to her entourage.

So that’s a no for me then!
X Factor filming took place at the Occidental Hotels & Resorts Grand Xcaret in Cancun, Mexico. Contestants and judges flew on British Airways, X Factor’s official airline.