A judge has ordered Spice Girl Melanie “Mel B” Brown to pay her estranged husband Stephen Belafonte $40,000 a month in emergency spousal support.
TMZ reported that Brown, 42, will also make a one-time payment of $140,000 for Belafonte’s legal fees. Documents obtained by the tabloid indicated that, based on her income, Brown was supposed to pay $55,000 a month but was given a $15,000 reprieve.
Brown filed for divorce from Belafonte in late March, ending a 10-year marriage. The pair has been entangled in nasty, personal legal battle ever since.
A judge orders Mel B to pay $40k a month to her estranged husband: https://t.co/QkZWpcSpxf pic.twitter.com/Xzv9vnXKbA
— The Root (@TheRoot) July 15, 2017
In April, the 42-year-old was granted a temporary restraining order after revealing a lengthy history of physical and mental abuse. According to The Los Angeles Times, Belafonte had a 2003 conviction for domestic violence against the mother of his first child. Belafonte has denied abusing Brown.
“The Court has considered carefully Brown’s allegations… that she suffered serious, debilitating abuse at the hands of Belafonte resulting in bodily injury and profound emotional distress,” Judge Lawrence P, Riff wrote on Friday.
Brown also alleged that Belafonte, whose real name is Stephen Stansbury, fraudulently passed himself off as the son of entertainer and activist Harry Belafonte, which he wasn’t.
TMZ previously reported that Belafonte sought a monthly allowance of $4,300 for food and groceries, $2,000 for clothes, $11,000 for housing, and $750 for a cell phone plan. At one point, Brown said that if Belafonte isn’t making enough at Serafina that he “should get a job at a different restaurant.” The pair co-own the establishment.
A Los Angeles court recently heard that Brown “blew her multimillion Spice Girls’ fortune.” Belafonte’s lawyer, Grace Jamra, claimed Brown “wiped out” at least $50 million. Brown’s lawyer, Jacalyn Davis, claimed tax issues the couple encountered were “sustained through improvident lifestyle choices,” according to The Sun.
However, the Daily Mail pointed out that the 42-year-old supposedly brings in $249,000 a month by being a judge on “America’s Got Talent.”
The ex-Spice Girl will pay spousal support until a final divorce settlement is reached.
[Feature Photo: AP]
