Melanie “Mel B” Brown wants her ex husband as far away from her as possible.
According to People, the former Spice Girl filed a restraining order against Stephen Belafonte on Monday after claiming he beat, threatened and exploited her during their nearly 10-year-long marriage. The order will protect Brown and her three children, Phoenix, 18, Angel, 10, and Madison, 5.
In the documents, Brown talked about an alleged August 2012 incident where she accused Belafonte of punching and pushing her down before her performance at the London Olympics. She claimed that to prevent speculation over the scabs and bruises, Belafonte forced her to tweet that she hurt herself running in Christian Louboutin heels.
"Running in 7 inch louboutin no good!! I'm wearing prauge on my face!!!" she tweeted at the time.
Brown filed for divorce just weeks ago and has requested full physical and legal custody of their daughter Madison.
Belafonte denied the allegations to TMZ Tuesday. "I'm shocked at those allegations and that's what it is," he told the gossip site, later saying, "We have beautiful children ... that are on the internet. That are on social media. Why do this? I mean, I guess someone is making a lot of money off of this -- mainly the lawyers."
In 2014, he tweeted a denial of similar rumors.
"I don't usually respond to Twitter msgs but I will respond to comments of hitting my wife which I think are quite disgusting un true," he tweeted at the time.
Brown detailed years of the alleged abuse and said it first started five months into their marriage. She claimed that before an appearance on the November 2007 finale of “Dancing with the Stars” Belafonte choked her and slammed her against a wall in their home. She claimed he would “beat (her) down to let (her) know he was in charge.”
In 2012, she said he accused her of flirting with singer Usher during a taping of “X Factor” and punched her in the face, splitting her lip.
She also claimed that Belafonte would make her “participate in sexual intercourse with him and random women” and that he would secretly record the encounters and later threaten to use them against her. She also claimed her ex impregnated the nanny and wanted to keep the baby, but later forced the woman to have an abortion and paid her $300,000.
Brown further claimed that Belafonte has “taken millions of dollars” from her during their marriage to pay child support for a child from a previous relationship.
She stated she has tried to leave Belafonte several times, but each time he has threatened to take the children and ruin her career.
“(He) threatened me with violence and threatened to destroy my life in every possible way,” she said.
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