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For years, rumors swirled about drug use and her party girl image cultivated during her marriage to ex-husband Stephen Belafonte. What few knew was the house of horrors that existed behind closed doors, that Melanie's oldest daughter, 19-year-old Phoenix, and Melanie's mother, Andrea, both attest to in great and excruciating detail in Melanie's recently released memoir, Brutally Honest. Brutally honest it is, as the outspoken girl from Leeds, England, with the heavy Yorkshire accent (her most charming quality) recalls everything from growing up of mixed-race heritage during a time when it was anything but the norm, to Spice Girls fame, drugs, bisexuality, and a ten-year marriage that she claims was so abusive that it drove her to attempt suicide in 2014. Four years after that horrific episode, which left her with organ damage and a lot of bruised pride, Melanie slowly rebuilt her strength, finally filing for divorce from Belafonte in 2017. The two remain embroiled in a bitter legal battle, but Melanie takes solace in spreading her message about domestic abuse and domestic violence. Along with promoting her book, she is advocating for others who have experienced various forms of intimate/domestic partner abuse as a part of her daily work with UK's Women's Aid, along with motherhood, and preparing to hit the road in 2019 with the Spice Girls. After getting to know Melanie, I feel compelled to add that despite some reports associated with her recent fall and subsequent rib and hand injuries, she insists that she is now substance-free, and I believe her. How are your spirits these days? Mel B: Obviously, I'm still on my healing path and it's going to be an ongoing thing. Just taking care of myself, meditating, doing my reiki, and eating well. I actually couldn't be happier right now. I know there are more happier times to come, but right now I'm in a really good place and it's taken me a long time to even get to this place, so I'm thankful. Let's go back a bit so people can get the big picture. What did the Spice Girls fame and hysteria of the 1990s feel like at the nucleus of it, from the inside looking out? MB: It was tiring, but we really didn't care because it was five girls together who all had each other, living our dream life. We were living in England, struggling financially, not having much to eat, convincing people to let us borrow their recording studios so that we could sit down and write and [record] our music. There was a phase of a couple of years where it was really, really tough. When we got to release our first single, "Wannabe," and we signed with a record company and got Simon Fuller involved to manage us, it was really good, happy times that all five of us had dreamt of, and we were actually living that life. We were traveling the world, singing, performing, dancing, writing music, and making a movie. It was a really beautiful few years. Of course, we were tired, because we didn't allow ourselves any time off. But we were in control of what we did and when we did it, and we knew that we had to soar through life like a big tornado and strike while the iron was hot. What do you feel you came into this life as Melanie Brown to learn? MB: Well, I think the number one thing is that I come from a white mother and a black father. Back in the 1970s when they got together and had me, that was seen as something that wasn't really done. They had a lot of things that they had to overcome in bringing me into the world and raising me in an area of England, four hours outside of London, where there weren't any other mixed-race girls. That was one thing I had to find, was my own identity. Apart from the likes of Neneh Cherry and maybe Tracy Chapman, there really wasn't anybody that I could look up to where I felt like I belonged, or anyone who I felt like I even looked like. For me, it was all about creating a path where hopefully other mixed-race girls, and other mixed-race kids could actually follow. For example, I never had my hair braided. I always wore my hair out. I'm very opinionated, but for the right reasons; not just to cause a ruckus. I do believe that I am here, somewhat, to make it okay to be in the skin that you're in and the color that you are. My next question was going to be, what are you here to teach? But I think you answered it. MB: Yes, that is definitely a part of it, but I am here to learn, of course. One thing that is an ongoing thread in my life since I've been very young, like 2 or 3 years old, is being very honest. Kids are very honest, and they're not sidetracked by their surroundings. They say exactly what they feel. That's one of my things that I stick by and swear by, which is being completely transparent and honest. It's not to offend or intimidate anybody. It comes from a good place and I have good intentions, but it is an ongoing thread in my life. I always say that none of us are so fallible that we have nothing to teach, and even the wisest among us are also here to learn. We are all students, and we are all teachers. MB: Sure. We can't know everything, and knowledge is power. I wasn't very educated