Things You Didn't Know About Mel B's Husband

When former Spice Girl, Melanie "Mel B" Brown, announced her divorce from Stephen Belafonte in March of 2017, it wasn't exactly surprising. Their marriage was plagued with rumors of abuse and infidelity for years. But days later, Brown filed for a restraining order against him, alleging a long history of physical abuse, emotional abuse, and sexual exploitation. The allegations were shocking in nature, but especially because Brown has adamantly defended Belafonte from the ceaseless tabloid speculation.

But Belafonte's long and troubled history had apparently sent up red flags to those close to Mel B, like her mother, who expressed reservations when Brown married him. "I know he's no angel," sources close to Mel B claimed she said about Belafonte. That's a bit of an understatement when you really look into Belafonte's past. Here are the things you didn't know about Mel B's husband.

Before he became Mr. Scary Spice, Stephen Belafonte had already changed his identity once. Born Stephen Stansbury, he changed his name to Belafonte after moving to LA and starting the film production company, Remag.

According to IMDb, Remag Productions only has two credits, Straight from the Projects: Rappers That Live the Lyrics – Brownsville Brooklyn, and Straight from the Projects: Rappers That Live the Lyrics – 3rd Ward, New Orleans, which are both also Belafonte's only directing credits. But they were apparently enough to get his foot in the door, because he went on to produce a few notable titles in his brief career, namely Thank You for Smoking and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. And just a heads up, this is going to be the only quasi-complementary Stephen Belafonte fact on this list, except that's only partially true, because he also co-produced the Edward Furlong and Tara Reid atrocity, The Crow: Wicked Prayer, which is a sequel absolutely no one wanted, as evidenced by its current Rotten Tomatoes rating of zero percent.

Not surprisingly, his last credit was in 2010 for his family's reality show, Mel B: It's a Scary World. So, strap in, because it only gets worse from here.

Stephen Belafonte's criminal history goes all the way back to his childhood. In a tell-all interview with The Sun, Belafonte's brother, Jeremiah Stansbury, revealed that when Stephen was 13, he "killed a duck in the street" by taking a brick and "smashing it over the head." This claim was backed up by a neighbor of Stansbury's who told The Daily Mail that she also had another frightful encounter with Belafonte when he was around the same age. The neighbor claims she was working in her garden when she heard, "Pow, you're dead," from behind. When she turned around, Belafonte was standing there holding a rifle.

A few years later, in 1994, Belafonte was arrested on burglary and theft charges. After missing a court appearance, another warrant was issued for his arrest. The charges were eventually reduced to "receiving stolen property under the value of $200," when he was finally picked up for the outstanding warrant in 2001. Around this time, he was also accused of assaulting two men on a highway when he allegedly threw things at their car. Again, he averted any serious consequence when his charges were reduced to vandalism after he agreed to pay for damages to the car and perform community service. If this guy already sounds like a rough character, hold on, because he's just getting started.

In 2008, Belafonte told The Mirror, "I got into fights and I did get drunk but I don't do it now," but two years later, he got into a bloody brawl with three men at the May Fair Hotel in London. Sources told The Daily Mail that Belafonte was drinking at the bar when he overheard someone make "a derogatory comment about his wife." From there, the fists flew, but when the cops showed up, Belafonte claimed self defense.

Mel B, who was also there, said, "He was rushing to the defense of a woman — me. He was my defender. So I can't be mad. It's been blown into more than it was." Belafonte was not charged in the incident.

In Mel B's restraining order documents, she alleges a laundry list of frightful abuse at the hands of Belafonte. She claims he choked her and slammed her head on the floor; punched her with a closed fist and split her lip; knocked her to the floor causing rugburns; and coerced her into sexual situations by threatening to release sex tapes he allegedly made.

Belafonte denies all of the accusations. In a statement released to TMZ through his lawyers, Belafonte said, in part, "This entire charade was nothing more than a smear campaign intended to cover up Ms. Brown's own conduct during the marriage in light of her current involvement with a family television show, and in an effort to unfairly gain leverage both financially and with respect to custody of the children." So, time will tell on all of that, but in 2003, Belafonte plead no contest to battery charges on his then-girlfriend, Nicole Contreras.

Speaking with The Daily Mail, Contreras recounted her assault at the hands of Belafonte. "Stephen grabbed me by the arms and pushed me against the wall. His hands were digging into my arms and he was really hurting me," she said. After begging him to stop, she said that he "put his arm across my neck and had me in a choke hold. I was struggling to breathe. I knew I had to escape. I screamed for him to get off me. Somehow I managed to get away and call 911." Belafonte got a "suspended sentence" but had to enroll in a "year-long domestic violence program." He later described the incident as "this happened crazily, one drunk, retarded night," but it certainly doesn't seem like an isolated occurrence.

Mel B has been open in the past about her and Belafonte's wild sex life — She once famously told Howard Stern they had sex "five times a day," But she claims Belafonte took it too far. She alleges that he impregnated their nanny, demanded she have an abortion, and paid her over $300,000 dollars for "alleged nanny services." She also claims he forced her to "participate in sexual intercourse with him and random women," which his ex, Nicole Contreras, also claims he attempted with her.

Belafonte's alleged nanny-lust is also backed up by his brother, Jeremiah Stansbury, who told The Sun, "There was one time in 2008 that I saw them [Belafonte and the nanny] sitting in the hot tub in the house together — she was in a purple bikini with a thong and he was wearing swimming shorts. It made me feel uncomfortable." Stansbury also claims he was along with Belafonte on several occasions when he picked up girls, including once when Belafonte took a "20-year-old" he met in a club back to "the apartment he kept away from Mel's house."

When Mel B's highly publicized paternity suit against Eddie Murphy played out for all to see, Belafonte was by her side the entire time. They actually got married just four months after Mel B gave birth to Murphy's baby, and the X-Factor star even called Belafonte "her rock" throughout the proceedings. Wait, that's not shady. That's actually a good thing, right? It definitely is, but it's kind curious when you consider that just one year before all of that, Belafonte was sued by his ex, Nicole Contreras, for child support for their daughter, Gisele. Whoops.

On top of denying that he was the girl's father for three years, Contreras also alleges that Belafonte called her "a b**** and a whore," and said that she was fat during the pregnancy, according to The Daily Mail. For a guy who apparently loved having a ton of sex, Belafonte had sure had a tough time believing that would ever result in a child being made, huh?