Inside Mel B’s rocky romance with ‘love of her life’ Eddie Murphy from marriage plans & ‘poetic’ sex to courtroom feud
SHE’S locked in a fresh courtroom wrangle with her ex Eddie Murphy after asking him to pay more child support for their teen daughter.
Yet Mel B’s relationship with the Hollywood star hasn’t always been rocky – with the Spice Girl once describing Eddie as the “love of my life”.
Mel, one fifth of the best-selling girl group of all time, and Eddie met back in 2006, following the actor’s divorce from his ex-wife Nicole Mitchell.
They clapped eyes on each other during a party at Eddie’s home in Beverly Hills, California, complete with a giant hot tub, bowling alley and gym.
And for Scary Spice, it was love at first sight.
‘A 2k-volt electric current’
“It was as if a 2,000-volt electric current had passed between us,” she wrote of her encounter with Eddie in her 2018 memoir, Brutally Honest.
“I felt a hundred different emotions at once, from confused to elated, to happy to scared, to relaxed to incredulous, and everything in between.”
The superstar and doting mother, now 45, continued: “I felt I had known this man all my life and that I was staring at my destiny in his face.”
At the time, Golden Globes winner Eddie, 59, already had seven children: two sons by two ex-girlfriends and five children with ex Nicole.
But while Mel didn’t think anything would come of their remarkable encounter in Eddie’s sprawling kitchen, the pair soon fell for each other.
Luxury LA lifestyle
Within weeks of dating, Eddie was reportedly having Mel chauffeured in his Rolls Royce, and even invited her to move in – though she declined.
The actor also gave Mel a credit card as their romance blossomed, saying it would ‘make him happy’ if she used it, according to the .
However, Mel said she gave it back to Eddie after a couple of weeks.
‘Poetic’ sex
Despite their intense feelings for each other, the Spice Girl claimed she and Eddie didn’t have sex until six weeks after the mansion party.
‘When it happened it wasn’t sex,” Mel, now mum to daughters Phoenix, Angel and Madison, wrote in a draft extract of her memoir seen by the Mail.
“It was like poetry, every touch, every kiss every sense out of this world.
“We were both completely besotted with each other.”
Every morning, love-struck Eddie would apparently tell Mel she was “beautiful”. And away from the bedroom, his gestures were just as touching.
When Mel once asked the actor to take her away for the weekend, she says he flew them both to Mexico via private jet at the last-minute.
“I’m the true romantic kind of love story kind of girl, I wanted him,” the I Want You Back singer told Piers Morgan’s Life Stories last year.
Marriage plans & baby joy
The happy pair even planned to tie the knot, with “gentleman” Eddie reportedly asking Mel’s welder dad for her hand in marriage.
And before long, Mel was pregnant with their daughter Angel, now 13.
When they found out about the pregnancy, they “jumped around” Eddie’s en-suite bathroom “laughing and crying”, Mel wrote in her memoir.
However, cracks in the pair’s romance soon formed.
When Mel returned to Leeds while pregnant with their little girl, Eddie thought she’d left him (yet Mel insists she always intended to return).
And the situation was only made worse in December 2006 when Eddie made some shocking comments about Mel’s pregnancy to a reporter.
“I don’t know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test. You shouldn’t jump to conclusions, sir,” he told the journalist.
I don’t know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test
Eddie Murphy in 2006
Then-expectant mum Mel was left heartbroken by Eddie’s remarks.
In her interview with Piers, obtained by The Mirror, she reflected: “We were both to blame. I wouldn’t have said that publicly and he apologises to this day about that.
“He wishes he never said it, because that baby was planned; we planned that baby together and we were madly in love and it just went wrong, dramatically went wrong.”
DNA test proof
Mel gave birth to little Angel Iris Murphy Brown – her middle daughter and only child with Eddie – on the actor’s 46th birthday, April 3, 2007.
And on June 22, 2007, the singer’s reps announced a DNA test had confirmed that multi-millionaire Eddie was the father.
Initially, Eddie allegedly didn’t have much of a relationship with daughter Angel. But in later years, he got more involved and the pair bonded.
Since their split, Mel, now living in her native Leeds, and dad-of-ten Eddie, engaged to actress Paige Butcher, have managed to revive a relationship.
The former couple were thought to be back on good terms – but now that they’re back in the US courts, their fiery disputes could be reignited.
Though Mel took part in the Spice Girls’ long-awaited and lucrative reunion tour last year, her lawyer says her income has been “dramatically reduced”.
Accounting figures previously showed the band members made around £3.2million each from 2019’s bumper run of stadium shows.
But Mel’s costly divorce battle with ex Stephen Belafonte – with whom she has daughter Madison, nine – has dramatically dented her bank balance.
Mel has now asked Eddie to reveal all about his income in fresh paperwork. A previous deal agreed in 2009 gave her sole custody after Eddie was ordered to pay £21,000 per month plus additional health insurance and education costs.
The singer’s lawyers explained: “Eddie and Melanie have both established careers in the entertainment industry.
“Unfortunately, Melanie’s income has dramatically reduced, such that she must consider modifying child support for the first time.”
While it’s unclear how the court feud will end, Mel has previously spoken fondly of the impact Eddie has had on her life – despite their ups and downs.
“He is the love of my life,” she told Piers of the Hollywood heartthrob.
“He always will be.”