Why Does Mel B Want to Leave the United States for Good?
Mel B has decided that she no longer wants to live in the U.S and would prefer to return to the U.K for the rest of her life. The reason she wants to do this is that she said she is having a lot of trouble finding work in the U.S but has work lined up for herself in her home country, the United Kingdom.
She has requested a court to rule in her favor allowing this to happen soon. She says that ever since she divorced Stephen Belafonte, she has had nothing but problems with her finances. According to Mel B, her ex-husband took control of her finances and abused her in more ways than one including financially, physically, mentally, and sexually.
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The former Spice Girls singer says she has already been hired to work on a television show in the United Kingdom and this is the reason she wants out of the U.S and to go back to the U.K for good. Mel B isn't a citizen of the United States and never has been. She has been living here entirely on a Work Visa, which is set to expire in February of 2020. By the time that happens, she will not be allowed to live or work in this country anymore.
Mel B was a judge for America's Got Talent for 12 seasons but they refused to renew her contract after her 12th time being a judge for the show. Ever since she didn't get her contract renewed for the next season of AGT, she has been constantly looking for more work and has failed to find anything.
She is pleading for the court to grant her request to move from California to England permanently. She wrote the following in her request to the judge:
"As the court is well aware, my marriage to Stephen was unhealthy. I was subjected to years of verbal and sexual abuse by Stephen, which included his active isolation of my daughters and me (including Madison) from my home and family in the United Kingdom."
While Mel was married to Belafonte, she claimed he put her life through a living hell. He controlled her, abused her in many ways, and took control of her money even though she was the one making the money in the marriage, the primary breadwinner between the married couple.
Mel B and Stephen Belafonte were married for 10 years before Mel finally decided to get out of the marriage and live her own life. Since then, she has been rebuilding her life as much as she can. However, once the divorce was final, Belafonte was granted $350,000 for his legal fees of which Mel B had to pay, spousal and child support, and half of everything obtained between them during the marriage.
Since being let go from AGT, Mel B says she has run out of money since she has been unable to find work since her contract ended with the show. Therefore, she knows it would be in her and her daughter's best interest to be able to move from the U.S to the U.K for good since she has work waiting for her there.
She is also asking the judge to change her current custody arrangement he made with the former married couple. The custody arrangement the judge made for them now gives Mel full custody. However, Belafonte is allowed to have his daughter overnight every Wednesday as well as every other weekend. She said that if the court rules in her favor allowing her to move, she will provide her ex-husband with "reasonable visitation."
She has even given proof to the court that she has work waiting for her in her home country.
Once their divorce was finalized, Mel B was celebrating because she was getting away from Belfonte for good. Belafonte was celebrating because of the money, $350,000, he was going to get from her that the judge ordered her to pay him. She was ordered to pay half of the $350K within the first 30 days of the divorce being final and the rest of it once the mansion they shared was sold, which was worth $7.7 million.
While they were going through the divorce, the former married couple tried to put restraining orders against each other but the judge threw them both out.
After being ordered to pay her ex-husband half of their marital assets as well as a total of $350,000, the judge ordered them both to put $1 million to the side to pay the back taxes they owed.
Although Belafonte was happy that he got what he wanted out of the divorce between them, such as the $350k and $5,000 per month in child support for the 6-year-old daughter they share, he was upset, however, that he was not granted step-visitation for Mel B's 10-year-old daughter she shares with actor and comedian, Eddie Murphy, of which he is her step-father.
