Mel B's Ex Stephen Belafonte Files $5M Defamation Lawsuit Against Her
Originally appeared on E! Online
Mel B and ex-husband Stephen Belafonte are not quite done saying goodbye.
Belafonte—who was married to Mel B (real name Melanie Brown) from 2007 to 2017—has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Spice Girls singer accusing her of spreading false information about him in the years since their divorce.
In his lawsuit, filed in Southern District of Florida Court May 29 and obtained by E! News, Belafonte alleged that Brown, 49, "has spent the better part of the last decade engaging in a deliberate and wide-ranging campaign to cause him severe emotional distress and destroy his reputation."
"Ms. Brown has stopped at nothing to falsely charge [Belafonte] with crimes and horrific offenses," the lawsuit continued, "including physical beatings, rape, financial abuse, emotional abuse, sex trafficking, and illegal gun possession."
Belafonte, 49, further alleged that Brown's "campaign of abuse" has continued with the republishing of her book Brutally Honest earlier this year, "wherein Ms. Brown has leveraged her thirty years of fame to attack Mr. Belafonte in a malicious and vindictive global smear."
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Belafonte also claimed the "Wannabe" singer—with whom he shares 12-year-old daughter Madison—"leveraged her celebrity status" for her own personal gain by turning herself into a "spokesperson for abuse victims" with her work as a charity ambassador for Women's Aid UK, a United Kingdom-based charity that aims to end domestic violence against women.
"More shockingly, Ms. Brown's egregious lies about Mr. Belafonte resulted in her appointment to the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE), a British order of chivalry rewarding one's contributions to, among other things, charitable and welfare organizations," the lawsuit read. "When the cameras were off her, however, Ms. Brown waged a destructive campaign of abuse of her own, reaching nearly everyone around Mr. Belafonte's and their child's orbit."
The film producer said he "received hundreds of hate comments and messages on social media platforms, as well as threatening messages from strangers" as a result of Brown's statements, which he believes have "endangered his and his daughter's life."
Belafonte is seeking "no less than" $5 million, as well as punitive and exemplary damages, in his lawsuit. He is also requesting for Brown to stop publishing or speaking about him moving forward.
"The damage Mel B has done to my reputation and brand is enormous," Belafonte's rep Mike Paul said in a statement to E! News, "and I have diligently collected vital evidence and fact to prove Mel B is a liar and has been lying about me and others for many, many years, including her hurtful and damaging lies about abuse."
E! News has reached out to Brown's reps for comments but has not heard back.
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