Mel B Opens Up On ‘Today With Hoda & Jenna’ About Leaving Her “Very Abusive” Marriage And Moving In With Her Mom: “You Literally Have To Piece Yourself Back Together”

Spice Girl Mel B recently visited Today With Hoda & Jenna, where she opened up about her experience leaving her “very abusive 10-year marriage” in 2017.

The singer was there to promote the recent re-release of her 2017 memoir Brutally Honest, which features three brand new chapters exploring her healing journey since leaving her ex-husband, movie producer Stephen Belafonte.

“I wanted to kind of update everyone because a lot has happened between since 2017 to 2024,” she told Today hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager. “I moved in with my mum in Leeds during the pandemic, which was hardcore.”

When Kotb asked what the experience had been like, Mel confessed that it was an “interesting” experience. “I had to leave LA so the best place that I could go was to live with my mum, and I had just separated from my very abusive 10-year marriage. So, the best place was to rekindle everything with my mum and my family,” she explained. “When you’ve been in that kind of abusive relationship you’re separated from your friends, from your family, your close ones. Because that’s what the abuser does.”

She then added, “So, I went right into the deep end. I was doing Wembley Stadium with the Spice Girls and then going home to my mum, very humbly living in a little bungalow with my kids.”

She explained that the new chapters included in the re-release expand on how the experienced helped her rebuild her relationship with her family.

“I think people think once you’ve left your abuser, it’s like oh you’re fine now, that’s it. Well it’s not, you literally have to piece yourself back together, because when you’ve been in an abusive relationship you’re full of guilt and shame,” she said. “It’s something nobody really wants to talk about.”

The world-famous pop star has become an advocate for survivors of domestic violence since coming forward about the abuse she allegedly suffered during her marriage to Belafonte. In her memoir, Mel detailed the physical, verbal, and financial abuse she secretly dealt with during those 10 years, all while maintaining appearances with the public.

The abuse allegations first came to light when Mel filed for a restraining order from Belafonte in 2017 amid their public divorce.

Belafonte denied the allegations at the time, telling TMZ, “I think someone’s trying to set me up to look like a bad guy.”

The domestic abuse allegations were later dropped when they settled their divorce.

Mel has since moved into her own place, which she announced on social media this past February. She explained that she originally moved back in with her mother when she had “NOTHING in [her] bank account” and was using the money she earned from the Spice Girls reunion tour to pay both her own and Belafonte’s “ENDLESS lawyers fees.”

“It takes a LONG LONG time to deal with the trauma when see you’ve been left financially at ground zero and everything you nice had was gone,” she wrote. “A mans [sic] mission was to destroy me mentally spiritually and financially but I wasn’t gonna let that happen I had to come back my roots back to my family in Leeds.”

Today with Hoda and Jenna airs on weekdays at 10/9c on NBC.