Former Spice Girl Melanie Brown (aka Mel B, aka Scary Spice) received a restraining order against estranged husband Stephen Belafonte this week because she and her three children now “fear for their lives.” Per TMZ, the singer made several accusations against Belafonte, all of which paint their relationship as a true nightmare filled with physical violence, emotional torment, and sexual blackmail.
The abuse allegedly began in 2007, around the time the two got married. Belafonte allegedly “placed both of his hands around her neck, began choking her and slammed her down onto the hardwood floors” on the night of Brown’s Dancing With the Stars finale. “When she achieved any measure of success,” writes TMZ, “he would ‘beat me down to let me know he was in charge.’”