Stephen Belafonte must stay away from wife of 10 years Melanie Brown and her three children after the singer, better known as Mel B, filed for a temporary restraining order against him in Los Angeles on Monday, People reports.
Brown, who separated from Belafonte in December and filed for divorce in March, is accusing him of brutally and repeatedly abusing, threatening, and blackmailing her over the course of their marriage. "[He] threatened me with violence and threatened to destroy my life in every possible way," said the 41-year-old.
The documents obtained by People contain graphic descriptions of many allegations of physical attacks by Belafonte, 41, including: splitting Brown's lip after lashing out at her when he thought she was flirting with Usher while filming The X Factor in 2012; beating her after a Spice Girls performance at the London Summer Olympics in 2012; and choking her while she was preparing for a TV appearance after her Dancing with the Stars finale appearance in 2007. “[He] threatened me with violence and threatened to destroy my life in every possible way," Brown says in the filing, also claiming that that Belafonte would punish her for her professional successes by "beat[ing] me down to let me know he was in charge."
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In addition, Brown makes several disturbing allegations of sexual abuse, manipulation, and blackmail involving other women. Brown alleges that Belafonte coerced her to "participate in sexual intercourse with him and random women" on multiple occasions; he would allegedly film the intercourse and use it to blackmail her into continuing to have threesomes. According to Brown, Belafonte impregnated the couple's nanny. He reportedly wanted to keep the baby and all live together as a family; Brown alleges that he later forced the nanny to get an abortion.
Brown says that when she tried to leave Belafonte, which she did several times, he would blackmail her with the video tapes, shatter her career, and rip her three children from her. (The couple has a 5-year-old daughter named Madison together, while Brown has a 10-year-old and 18-year-old from previous relationships.)
While neither party has responded to People's request for comment, Refinery29 has reached out to Brown's team for comment. Belafonte denied the accusations to TMZ.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or TTY 1-800-787-3224 for confidential support.