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MEL.B.E
I got gong from Prince William wearing no knickers – and not for Spice Girls, something far more important, says Mel B
AS he handed Mel B her MBE at Buckingham Palace, Prince William joked: “Now can you get the Spice Girls back together?”
But Mel, 46, stressed the gong was awarded for her work as patron of domestic violence charity , not music.
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The singer started with the charity after walking out of her abusive ten-year marriage to TV producer Stephen Belafonte, 46, in 2017.
After receiving her MBE yesterday, she told The Sun: “William told me, ‘I’m so delighted that it’s me giving you this’.
"And he asked, ‘Will you get the Spice Girls back together?’. I told him I was having dinner with Victoria that evening and he said, ‘Oh good, I’ll work on David then’.”
Mel was accompanied to the palace by her proud mum Andrea and the pair both wore dresses by Spice Girl turned designer Victoria Beckham.
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Mel’s former bandmate even flew back from Miami so she could personally handpick their outfits.
But in true Scary Spice style, cheeky Mel quipped that she was “stark, b****ck naked” underneath the figure-hugging red dress. She said: “Victoria asked me, ‘Will you wear nipple covers? I said, ‘Why bother?’.
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“When it came to the part where Prince William had to pin the MBE on, he asked for a female official to do it. I didn’t think I had that much cleavage on show!”
Melanie added how during her days as a Spice Girl, she often saw young Princes William and Harry as they were growing up.
She recalled: “I remember once around the time the Spice World movie came out we were helicoptered into Highgrove and we hung out with them, eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
“I think William thought I was receiving the MBE for being a Spice Girl, but I told him that it was for my work on domestic violence. He wanted to hear all about it.
“In fact, I felt guilty holding up the queue because we spent so long talking. I told him I had been in an abusive marriage for ten years, which I finally got out of by the skin of my teeth.
“And then I wrote a book all about it and became a patron for Women’s Aid. I told him that when I wrote my autobiography, people were not really talking about things like coercive control, that it was a dark, taboo topic. I explained that I often visit a women’s refuge in Leeds near where I live.
“He said, ‘That must be really fulfilling for you to talk about it and help women’. I said that my story is exactly like so many of the women’s I meet and that I managed to get out and survive.
“It was a really good conversation and a very special moment for me." The investiture was the first to be held at Buckingham Palace since the pandemic.
I think William thought I was receiving the MBE for being a Spice Girl, but I told him that it was for my work on domestic violence. He wanted to hear all about it.
Mel B
And Mel’s former Spice bandmates flooded her with congratulatory messages on her big day. Sporty Spice Mel C sent her a funny video, in which she cheekily wears a T-shirt with Mel B’s face on it and jokes they “must have sent the MBE to the wrong Melanie”.
She added: “I’m so proud of you. I know everything you have been through and to do so much for other people is amazing.”
Meanwhile, Emma Bunton congratulated Mel on her “Motor Boating Extreme” award and said: “Your strength and resilience is always something I have aspired to — and I get to call you my best mate.”
And Geri Horner sent a video in which she said: “What you have achieved is amazing. Hope you have an amazing time.”
Mel said it was especially poignant to take her mum as her guest to the palace because during her marriage to Belafonte he forced her to cut herself off from her family.
How you can get help
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – [email protected].
Women’s Aid provides a - available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
She added: “I missed my family for so many years and I just want them to be part of this moment. Although, my mum has driven me mad, panicking about not having a hat and worrying about her curtsey.
“She kept looking around in Buckingham Palace, saying, ‘It’s like Downton Abbey, I wish I had my phone’. But we’ve had a laugh.”
Mel was also accompanied to London by her 15-year-old daughter Angel, whose father is Hollywood actor Eddie Murphy, 61. But one family member she wishes could have been there to see her big moment is her dad, Martin, who died in 2017 following a long battle with bone marrow cancer.
It was during her last conversation with him as he lay dying that she vowed to quit her marriage. She said: “It was the last thing I said to him. I said I would leave my husband and did so within a month.
‘Girl Powerless’
“My dad worked in a factory all his life and I would have loved him to be here. When I received the letter to tell me I was being awarded an MBE, I drove to his grave and stood there over his headstone crying, telling him his daughter was getting an MBE.”
Mel is also mum to daughter Phoenix, 23 — who is currently filming reality TV show The Games — and ten-year-old Madison, her daughter with Belafonte.
When she reflects on the journey that brought her to Buckingham Palace, the former X Factor judge says there are times she can barely believe she survived.
She explained: “I have felt really calm and peaceful today, but really it is surreal. I was a Spice Girl, I stood for Girl Power. But then I met a man who swept me off my feet, who I thought was Prince Charming, but I became Girl Powerless.
“He destroyed my confidence, isolated me from my friends and family and made me feel useless and ugly, like I was better off dead.
“But I have had to work on myself and face up to what happened. It is tempting to block it out, but that does no good. I spoke up and got out of my horrendous marriage and have tried to help other women, and men, who are going through abuse.”
An army of women stand behind me today. I accepted the MBE on behalf of them.
Mel B
But the legacy of abuse still looms large in her life. She added: “There are so many triggers, like when I arrived in my hotel room the night before going to the palace, I had to close all the curtains because I always feel like someone could be watching.
“I am always looking around me. I used to flinch when people came to hug me.”
Mel began her campaigning work after being introduced to Women’s Aid by The Sun.
For the past 20 years we have campaigned on behalf of domestic violence survivors to change laws and safeguard funding for shelters and refuges.
Yesterday, The Sun threw a bash at London hotel Claridge’s in conjunction with Women’s Aid to celebrate Melanie’s MBE.
As patron of the charity, Mel has raised money and awareness, and even helped former Prime Minister Theresa May shape legislation to help survivors who face financial hardship.
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She said: “An army of women stand behind me today. I accepted the MBE on behalf of them.
“This MBE is not for me, Mel B the Spice Girl, it’s for me, Melanie Brown, the mixed-race, working-class girl from Leeds who went through an abusive marriage then spoke about the very worst thing that happened in her life.”
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