Mel B just had a fairytale wedding. Her past relationships played out like a nightmare.

Over the weekend, Mel 'B' Brown and Rory McPhee got married in a fairytale London wedding.

Their love story began as a long-standing friendship. Rory, a celebrity hairstylist from Leeds, was best friends with Mel's cousin, and the pair had known each other for years before romance blossomed.

Their connection grew when Mel moved back to Leeds in 2019, following a turbulent marriage. Rory's support helped Mel heal, and their friendship eventually turned romantic.

Rory proposed to Mel B in 2022 during a stay at Cliveden House in Berkshire. Rory filled their hotel room with flowers and included their beloved dogs in the moment. He even visited Mel's late father's grave to ask for his blessing before proposing.

On July 5, 2025, Mel B and Rory married at the OBE Chapel in St Paul's Cathedral, London. The star-studded guest list included Emma Bunton (the only Spice Girl present), Cara Delevingne, Katherine Ryan, Daisy Lowe, and comedian Tom Allen. Mel's three daughters served as bridesmaids.

Mel B and her husband Rory McPhee on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral, London. Image: Getty.

This happy news follows a rather harrowing few decades for the Spice Girls singer when it comes to her dating life.

Mel B had highly publicised relationships with Eddie Murphy and Peter Andre, along with a marriage (and subsequent divorce) with Stephen Belafonte.

Watch: Celebrity pregnancies that were nothing short of iconic. Post continues after video.

Stephen Belafonte: A painful divorce.

Mel met the director and film producer soon after her relationship ended with Eddie Murphy, and after just four months, the pair were wed in a secretive Las Vegas ceremony in 2007, and welcomed a daughter, Madison, in 2011.

On the outside, their marriage appeared picture-perfect, with frequent red carpet appearances and social media posts about each other.

Behind closed doors, Mel B has alleged that the relationship was emotionally and physically abusive and controlling.

After nearly a decade together, Mel B filed for divorce in 2017 and was granted a temporary restraining order against Belafonte.

Mel B and then-husband Stephen Belafonte in 2014. Image: Getty.

In court documents and interviews, Mel B alleged multiple violent incidents, including being punched, choked, and thrown to the floor. She recounted being assaulted after the 2012 London Olympics closing ceremony and having to cover up injuries with makeup.

She alleged that Belafonte isolated her from friends and family, controlled her finances, and used gaslighting tactics.

"I wasn't just emotionally and physically abused, there was all the financial abuse too. I didn't realise that I didn't have as much money as I thought I had," she alleged to the BBC.

"I literally had to eat humble pie, live with my mum."

Mel B accused Belafonte of forcing her into unwanted sexual acts, recording them, and threatening to release the footage to ruin her career if she tried to leave. She claimed he threatened to take her children away and destroy her life if she attempted to escape the marriage.

Belafonte has repeatedly denied all allegations of abuse and has filed a multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit in response. Stephen and Mel share one child together, Madison.

The singer has been open about the toll the relationship took on her mental health. In her memoir, Brutally Honest, Mel B describes the insidious nature of the alleged abuse.

"Stephen treated me like no one else ever had done — except probably my dad," she wrote.

"If I'd had a fall-out with one of my friends, if I'd been in trouble at school or work and I was trying to explain my side of it, my dad would glare at me and say, 'This will be down to you, Melanie. Only you.'"

Mel B and Stephen Belafonte. Image: Getty.

In the years that followed, the trauma she says she experienced led to Mel looking for alternative forms of therapy.

There was a specific moment the singer decided she needed to seek treatment and it happened more than six years after her split from her ex-husband, she told Marie Claire, adding that she was at "rock bottom".

Mel was lying curled in a ball, crying and shaking in August 2023 when her then-fiancé, Rory McPhee, begged her to get "proper help".

"When you leave an abuser, the abuse that you've endured — whether it be physical or mental — doesn't just go away," she explained. "You have to start from scratch, to learn how to be kind to yourself, to remember how to choose your own clothes, to rebuild your self-esteem, because the person you loved and trusted left you on the floor with nothing, no hope, no self-worth. Just guilt and pain — a lot of s**t."

Since Mel's divorce was finalised in December 2017, she has become an advocate for domestic abuse survivors, serving as a patron for Women's Aid and sharing her story to help others recognise and escape abusive relationships.

Eddie Murphy: A paternity test scandal and a bitter separation.

Mel B and Eddie Murphy were once destined to be one of Hollywood's most famous couples.

It was a love-at-first-sight moment when the pair met in 2006. From there followed a whirlwind romance, sex that the couple described as "like poetry", a quick engagement, one child — and eventually, a very public paternity test and bitter separation.

From the moment they first met in 2006 at one of his intimate dinner parties, the Spice Girls member 'knew' he was the love of her life.

"It was as if a 2,000-volt electric current had passed between us," she recalled of her encounter with the actor in her 2018 memoir, Brutally Honest.

"I felt a hundred different emotions at once, from confused to elated, to happy to scared, to relaxed to incredulous, and everything in between."

Mel continued: "I felt I had known this man all my life and that I was staring at my destiny in his face."

The moment was so intense that she even admitted to leaving the party early.

At the time of their meeting, they were individually at the height of fame: Mel was one-fifth of the best-selling girl group of all time, and Eddie was one of the world's biggest comedians and actors.

Eddie Murphy and Mel B, 2006. Image: ITV.

Their relationship was passionate, intense and — according to Mel — generous.

Just weeks into their romance, Eddie offered to move Mel into his mansion and chauffeur her around. While the singer declined, he wouldn't take no for an answer when it came to her using his credit card.

While she did eventually return the card, the pair's relationship only intensified — so much so that Mel insisted they avoided becoming physical for six weeks. When the time limit was up, she said their sex was "like poetry".

"When it happened, it wasn't sex. It was like poetry, every touch, every kiss, every sense out of this world. We were both completely besotted with each other," she wrote in her memoir.

Rather quickly, they not only became totally enthralled by one another but were also committed to raising a family together.

Just months into their relationship, Eddie asked Mel's late father for permission before he asked her to marry him. He also tattooed her name on his thigh.

Not too long after, the pair were pregnant. According to Entertainment Tonight, they "jumped around [Eddie's] en-suite bathroom laughing and crying, bursting with the best news ever".

But eventually, seeing how Eddie lived made her unhappy, and as a result, she flew back to her home in Leeds to deliver their child.

In 2007, on Eddie's birthday, Mel gave birth to Angel Iris Murphy Brown. For the Spice Girls singer, the coincidental birthday only made her feel hesitant. She later told Entertainment Tonight, "I was like, is this a joke? On his birthday?"

However, the relationship turned sour fast when Eddie told the press he wanted proof that their daughter was his with a paternity test.

"I don’t know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test. You shouldn’t jump to conclusions, sir," he told a reporter asking questions.

Two months later, Mel announced a DNA test had confirmed Eddie was the father.

Their relationship developed a new public narrative — one that questioned the legitimacy of their engagement, child and love for one another. However, Mel has defended their relationship — even 18 years later.

Speaking to Piers Morgan on Life Stories in 2021, Mel said they "both were to blame".

"I wouldn't have said that publicly and he apologises to this day about that," she explained. "He wishes he never said it because that baby was planned; we planned that baby together and we were madly in love, and it just went wrong, dramatically went wrong."

"He is the love of my life," she told Piers Morgan. "He always will be."

Now that Angel is a teenager, her mother says she visits Eddie "whenever she wants" — but it wasn't always that way.

She rarely saw her father — who has nine other children, four sons and five daughters — while growing up. But in 2016, they began to make up for the lost time.

Eddie Murphy and his 10 children. Image: Instagram.

According to reports, Eddie agreed to pay around $55,000 AUD each month in child support for Angel. The change came after Mel allegedly requested more financial assistance due to a "change in income".

While he'd previously been paying around $39,000 each month, the new agreement declared he was an "extraordinarily high earner".

The new amount will continue to be paid each month until Angel turns 18 in 2025. It was revealed later that the dramatic increase came down to her expensive divorce from director Stephen Belafonte.

Mel B's other romantic partners and marriages.

She married Dutch dancer Jimmy Gulzar in 1998 after meeting during the Spiceworld Tour. Their whirlwind romance produced their daughter, Phoenix, but ended in divorce by 2000.

Her famous exes over the years include actor Max Beesley and filmmaker Christine Crokos

Mel B dated the English singer and TV personality Peter Andre for about nine months in 1996. In 2011, the Australian singer spoke on Piers Morgan's Life Stories about their time together. "I really liked Mel but she broke my heart," he said.

"She treated me like I'd treated other women in the past and she made me grow up."

This article was published on December 15, 2023 and has since been updated with new information.

Feature Image: Getty.