Stephen Belafonte pictured enjoying cosy dinner with Mel B-lookalike just days after the ‘sex-mad’ couple announced their divorce
STEPHEN Belafonte has been pictured enjoying a cosy dinner with a Mel B lookalike beauty, just days after announcing their divorce.
The couple announced their shock split this week following a decade of marriage, with Mel citing "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for the split.
Stephen put his heartache aside as he grabbed a pizza from Sera Fina in Los Angeles, and was joined by a female companion on the outing.
The pair were snapped looking cosy inside, with the brunette beauty wearing a cap and leaning in to whisper to Stephen.
Mel and Stephen have previously been very open about their love of sex, and Mel insisted the passion was alive throughout their marriage, saying they had “sex five times a day”.
Stephen’s brother also laid bare the details of their sex life, saying: “They’re obsessed with porn and sex.”
Close pals told yesterday how the America’s Got Talent judge finally decided to walk away from what her friends saw as husband Stephen’s controlling behaviour.
At one point police probed claims of false imprisonment.
Mel’s family and friends — including all her Spice Girls bandmates — were privately celebrating her shock decision to file for divorce in Los Angeles after a troubled decade-long relationship dubbed “the scariest marriage in showbiz”.
Bisexual former X Factor judge Mel, 41 — who reportedly shared foursomes with her husband — has been plotting to break free for two years.
She decided to act after reuniting with her mum Andrea and sister Danielle.
Friends now fear Stephen, also 41, aims to “make a fortune” from the split.
One close pal said: “Mel has wanted to divorce Stephen for two years — the marriage was totally toxic and she knew it.
“It was very sad because she simply didn’t have the strength to leave.
“They would split up for a period, but something kept drawing her back.
“But the death of her dad and reconciliation with her mum and sister has changed everything.
“She’s finally broken free and everyone in her life is completely delighted.”
She also asked for joint custody of the couple’s five-year-old daughter Madison Brown Belafonte.
But she hinted at her inner turmoil in her last Instagram post where she shared the quote: “You have to be at your strongest when you’re feeling at your weakest.”
Mel filed a fortnight after flying home to Yorkshire to see late dad Martin, 63, who died of multiple myeloma cancer on March 4.
It reunited Mel with her mum and sister, who had become estranged over Stephen.
The family never supported the relationship and were concerned about Stephen, who had admitted to battering his ex-girlfriend Nicole Contreras.
The friend explained: “Mel knew she had to walk away from Stephen for a long time.
“But her father’s death and being back with her mum and sister gave her the strength to make the divorce legal.”
In the divorce papers, Mel said she separated from Stephen on December 28 — the same day that she made her return to Broadway in the musical Chicago.
Yet she continued to post gushing messages about him on social media.
On February 6 she wrote on Instagram about her “baby boo” Stephen: “We have been through everything that would normally tear couples apart and have come out stronger.
“You loved me before I even knew how to really love myself.
“You are my world honey and let’s not forget you are a bit of a d***head too.”
Since then she has posted four further photos of him — calling him her “sexy hubby.”
Stephen last mentioned Mel a month ago in a post congratulating her on Chicago.
LIFE AND CRIMES
By Ally Farrell, Senior Bizarre Reporter
MEL and Stephen secretly wed in Las Vegas in 2007 after a five-month romance — and renewed vows in Egypt in 2008. That was when things quickly began to unravel.
Perhaps she should have seen the signs in his chequered past. In 1994 he was charged with burglary and theft in New Jersey. He was eventually convicted of receiving stolen property.
In 2000 he was accused of assaulting two men on a motorway. The charge was reduced to vandalism after he agreed to pay for damage to their motor.
In 2007 he even admitted battering a mallard to death, saying: “Apparently I killed a duck.”
And in 2010 Mel watched him get into a brawl with three men at a London hotel that left one needing hospital treatment. He avoided charges.
His record with women was equally bleak. His first marriage to Nancy Carmell lasted two months after she fled LA for her native Hawaii.
In 2003 he admitted attacking girlfriend Nicole Contreras. Three years ago he denied sex web romps with a model, claiming she was harassing him.
He and Mel have a daughter, Madison, five. Mel also has girls Phoenix Chi, 18, and Angel Iris, nine — fathered by Jimmy Gulzar and Eddie Murphy. Stephen has Giselle, 13, his daughter with Nicole.