It is all over for Stephen Belafonte and Melanie Brown.
The former Spice Girls member and current America’s Got Talent judge has filed to divorce her husband of nearly 10 years.
In legal papers obtained by People Magazine, Brown lists the date of the couple’s separation as December 28 and asks a judge for joint legal and physical custody of their daughter, Madison Brown Belfonte.
She’s five years old.
According to TMZ, Brown has also moved to block any spousal support requests by Belafonte.
The singer and the director got married in 2007 after just five months of dating.
In 2014, the woman formerly best known as Scary Spice took to social media to deny chatter that her husband had physically abused her, writing to fans “for the record my hubby would never lay a hand on me.”
She added the hashtags “#lovemyfamily #lovemyfans” at the time, following viewers taking notice of bruises on Brown during the live X Factor finale that year.
Belafonte and Brown made it work for approximately a decade, despite their unique and blended family.
Along with Madison, it has included Brown’s daughters Angel Iris Murphy Brown, 9, and Phoenix Chi Gulzar, 17 (from her relationships with ex-boyfriend Eddie Murphy and ex-husband Jimmy Gulzar, respectively)… and Giselle Belafonte, 12 (from his relationship with ex-girlfriend Nicole Contreras).
It’s unclear whether one major incident led to Brown”s filing or if the romance simply fizzled out.
But all seemed calm and content just a few weeks ago when Melanie shared a photo of herself kissing Belafonte on the head with Instagram followers.
“My baby boo @stephenthinks11 we have been through everything that would normally tear couples apart and we have come out on the other side stronger,” she wrote as a caption, adding:
“You loved me before I even new how to really love myself,you are my world honey and let’s not forget you are abit of a dickhead too xxxx #tenyearsmarried #fightfortheineyoulove #theysaiditwouldntlast #bitcheswishtheyhadthis #nowtalkaboutme.”
Hmmm…. okay.
That does sound sweet, but any time you refer to your spouse as a “dickhead,” it may be a sign that not everything is going well.
News of this split comes after the British pop star revealed that her father, Martin Brown, had died on March 5 following a five-year battle with cancer.
The artist had been estranged from her family for years (due to their disapproval of her relationship with Belafonte, actually) but Brown reunited with her sister Danielle to be with their father in his final hours.
Sad stuff all around.
We wish both Belafonte and Brown the best.
