Spice Girls’ Mel B Back in Court After Judge Rejects Sanctions Plea Against Ex-Husband.
Mel B from the Spice Girls quickly took action in court just days after a judge dismissed her attempt to penalize her ex-husband Stephen Belafonte. This was part of his lawsuit where he claims she falsely accused him of abuse.
Mel’s legal team quickly returned to court following the judge’s decision regarding Stephen’s lawsuit, in which he accuses her of lying about abuse. Court documents reveal that a federal judge rejected Mel’s attempt to sanction Stephen, 49, for what she described as his “blatant abuse of judicial process” in filing his lawsuit.
This legal action, initiated in May, claims that Mel has been spreading falsehoods about his behavior during their marriage, which lasted from 2007 to 2017. Stephen has denied these allegations. The former couple has a 12-year-old daughter, Madison, who has been living with Stephen since Mel’s work visa expired in 2019.
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In his lawsuit, Stephen asserts that Mel, 49, has spent much of the last decade intentionally trying to inflict emotional distress on him and damage his reputation. He stated, “Despite claiming that ‘Mr. Belafonte would and could hurt me and my children,’ intending for such statements to be broadly disseminated to the international gossip press, Mel soon dismissed her own baseless claims, gave Stephen primary custody of their minor child, and was forced to pay out over half a million dollars.”
He stated, “Mel’s ongoing campaign of abuse has persisted into the present, highlighted by the 2024 re-release of her bestselling book about her marriage to Stephen, where Mel has exploited her three decades of fame to launch a malicious and vindictive global attack against Stephen.” He claimed that his ex-wife presents herself as “a victim of domestic abuse to promote and sell a memoir filled with outrageous falsehoods.”
Stephen went on to say, “From deceiving the courts and the public about [Stephen] allegedly assaulting her, resulting in a split lip and swollen face. Mel has been profiting from her public fabrications while depicting [Stephen] as a ‘monster’ in global media and television appearances.” The lawsuit seeks $5 million in damages and an injunction to prevent Mel from making negative public statements about him. Stephen opposed Mel’s request for sanctions. Mel described Stephen’s injunction request as “blatantly unconstitutional.”
Furthermore, her attorney denied that Mel had lied about the abuse, asserting that Mel “suffered Stephen’s physical and emotional abuse throughout their tumultuous ten-year marriage.” Mel “escaped[Stephen’s controlling influence with the assistance of the courts. After their divorce in 2017, Mel committed herself to advocating for vulnerable women worldwide, using the most powerful tool at her disposal — her voice, the same one that made her famous,” her lawyer contended in the motion to dismiss the case.
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Stephen responded to Mel’s claims, with his lawyer stating, “Mel’s motion for sanctions is a frivolous tactic designed to inflate the costs of this litigation and squander the court’s limited and valuable resources.” His lawyer further emphasized, “This lawsuit is not merely a defamation case, contrary to what Mel’s motion may suggest. Stephen initiated this action against Mel after nearly a decade of her efforts to inflict severe emotional distress on him and tarnish his reputation.”
The judge rejected Mel’s request, permitting the case to move forward. In a recently submitted motion, Mel requested the judge to review the earlier ruling. Mel B’s ongoing legal battle with her ex-husband, Stephen Belafonte, continues to unfold in the courts. Despite a judge’s rejection of her request for sanctions against him, the case is far from over.
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Stephen’s defamation lawsuit, which accuses Mel of spreading false abuse claims, will move forward, with Stephen seeking $5 million in damages. Mel’s legal team maintains that her abuse allegations are true and asserts that she’s been a vocal advocate for women’s rights. With both sides digging in, this high-profile case is set to continue, potentially impacting Mel B’s public image and reputation in the entertainment world.