After ten years of marriage, Melanie “Mel B” Brown has filed for divorce from her husband, Stephen Belafonte.
According to People, the date of separation was listed on divorce papers as December 28, and Brown has requested joint physical and legal custody of their daughter. She has also requested that the court terminate its ability to award spousal support.
Brown and Belafonte were married in 2007 and blended their families together, with Brown bringing two children from previous relationships and Belafonte bringing one. The couple has a little girl, Madison Brown Belfonte, together, who is now five years old.
Just a few years ago, in 2014, their marriage came under scrutiny when Brown was hospitalized with severe stomach pains and then seemed to have bruises just days later when she appeared on the finale of the U.K. version of The X Factor. Several people suggested that this was evidence of abuse, a claim that Belafonte categorically denied.
“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,” Belafonte wrote on Twitter.