Mel B’s horrified daughter Phoenix reveals bully ex-husband Stephen Belafonte ‘beat up her dog and LAUGHED when it was put down’
The Spice Girls singer's eldest child has spoken of being 'so glad' her mum plucked up the courage to finally leave Stephen after 'finding his gun' hidden away in a bedroom
PHOENIX, 19, Mel’s daughter by her first husband, dancer Jimmy Gulzar, grew to hate the controlling and abusive Belafonte.
She says: The first time I set eyes on Stephen, I didn’t like him. My mom had just had a baby and I was with my grandma in our hotel room when this big, loud dude appeared, being super-friendly and all over her and Angel.
And then Stephen was around all the time. He was driving me to school, living in our house, telling me when I could have something to eat and drink, telling me him and my mom were getting married.
By then I was nearly ten years old and I’d woken up to the fact that life can just suddenly turn into a pile of crap. I’d had it so good for years. I had this amazing, funny, strong mother. I had this great family in Leeds. I had a dad who was my best friend. I had this movie- perfect life in Los Angeles, with sunshine, loads of great people in our lives and my dog, Lordy.
When Eddie (Murphy) came along, things got even better. He treated me like one of his kids and I started doing really well in school. And then it was like someone just switched the channel to this total s**tstorm show. The Stephen Show.
Stephen didn’t like me. Not in a grown-up “I disapprove of you” way. He was like a kid — a bigger, sneakier kid. He beat up my dog, and laughed when Lordy got so ill he had to be put down. “Now you don’t have to walk him.”
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He left s**t in my room. He would start screaming about things like me leaving food, and go so ballistic it was as if I’d committed a crime. I couldn’t talk to my mom — someone else who looked like her was in her body. She believed every word he said. She loved him. Maybe I had to suck it up. I didn’t want to ruin it for her.
I remember finding Stephen’s gun. I was on my own in the house. He was always talking about his gun. I was snooping around in their bedroom. I found it in a box. I took it out and looked at it. I saw the bullets in the barrel.
I pointed it at my head and said, “Bang”. Then I put it back. I thought if I told my grandma how mean he was to me, she’d be able to do something. I always felt like I was in trouble. He told me I was retarded and ugly. He cursed at me and shouted so close to my face I’d get spit all over me.
I told Grandma about the gun. And I put a bullet through my whole world. And my mom’s. I think that broke my family, and it was my fault. Stephen seemed to hate my dad (Jimmy Gulzar). It used to make me cry.
Every time I saw my dad, there was a drama. It got so I didn’t even want to go. And then I did something so bad it still breaks my heart today. I was maybe ten. I was in a mood when I got to my dad’s and yelling so much he locked me in the bedroom to calm me down.
I called my mom and said he’d locked me in a room. Stephen shouted: “Call the police.” I did. They busted into the house and arrested my dad in front of me. It was horrific. I never really got to see my dad again for what seemed like for ever.
I don’t think Stephen really got to me because I taught myself to shut him out. I made myself stop crying, stop acting scared, stop shaking.I didn’t care what he said to me. I did care when he’d scream at my mom, talking to her like she was an idiot. I’d listen at their door and hear her crying.
My mom is this crazily tough woman, but I knew she was scared of him. She was a mess. I think my mom started drinking a couple of years after they got married. They both drank. A lot. He was the one who used to buy it. And he was the one pouring her the drinks and then going bat-s**t crazy when she got off her face.
I don’t think I was ever in danger. I can look after myself. I don’t get emotional except around my mom. When she was in hospital in England (in December 2014 following an overdose suicide bid) I knew something bad had happened.
I knew things were getting worse and worse with them. I wanted it to stop. My mom kept telling me she was going to leave him. I think we left a couple of times. But she always went back. I kept Angel (now aged 11) and Maddie (Mel’s now seven-year-old daughter with Stephen) away from most of it, in their bedrooms.
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In a weird way, I think when Stephen got most mad with her was when she was back to being the mom I knew. She’d have these phases of getting really fit. I’ve seen a lot of arguments. On lots of occasions my mom would sleep in my room.
I didn’t ever know what to do. I’d hear her crying in her bathroom or bedroom. She’d say she would divorce him, but nothing ever happened until we finally all left in March 2017.
I’m so glad my mom has left (him). I just want life to move on . . .
Abusive rant at Mel mum
MEL’S daughter Phoenix confided in her gran Andrea, Mel’s mum, that Belafonte had been cruel to her. Andrea spoke to Mel, who raised the concerns with her huband.
Andrea explains his reaction: I was asleep at 3am and my phone rang. It was Stephen. His words were unbelievable. “You f***ing c***. You f***ing bitch trash whore.” I started shaking. Those words just kept spewing out of the phone.
It was torrents and torrents of yelled filth, the most hurtful, evil, wicked words. “Stephen,” I said. “Stephen . . .” He wasn’t listening. He was screaming and screaming.
I’d never felt that words could be like weapons before. So many of them hitting me like bullets. They did not stop. “You have been fooled by a nine-year-old child, you f***ing bitch.” My mind was spinning.
I realised Melanie was with him. He told her, “Your bitch mother said this, right?” Then I heard Melanie say, “Phoenix, go to your bedroom.” ‘I begged: Don’t let Phoenix hear this’
And I heard him say: “No. She needs to hear what f***ing lies she’s told and she needs to know what a stupid c*** her grandmother is. And she needs to know she will never see her again. And you need to know, you f***ing bitch whore, you will never see your grandchildren again.”
I heard Phoenix sobbing, which made me break down. “Don’t let her hear this,” I was begging. The line went dead. I called Melanie back. I felt traumatised. Violated. Melanie’s phone was off.
I couldn’t stop crying. I kept trying their numbers. I knew they were about to move or had moved, and I didn’t know the address. Would Melanie call me? I emailed her. “Please, please call me Melanie.” I sent her about ten more emails.
I was even writing, “Sorry, sorry,” even though I’d done nothing wrong. I couldn’t bear to think of poor little Phoenix hearing that filthy language, being told it was her fault. It wasn’t right.
By the morning all my emails had bounced back – the email address had been erased. We got a message from Melanie’s mobile. “This mobile number is no longer in use.”
Our daughter and (back then) our only granddaughter had been cut out of our lives.
- BRUTALLY Honest by Melanie Brown with Louise Gannon (Quadrille, £17.99) is published on November 27. The audiobook is available exclusively on .