Who was Mel B married to? Her relationship timeline before marrying Rory McPhee (again)
Who was Mel B married to? Before marrying hairstylist Rory McPhee, Mel B, best known as a member of the Spice Girls, had a headline-making relationship history. The singer was previously married to dancer Jimmy Gulzar and later to film producer Stephen Belafonte. She also had a widely publicised relationship with actor Eddie Murphy.
Source: Getty Images
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Key takeaways
- Mel B was married to dancer Jimmy Gulzar from 1998 to 2000, and they share a daughter, Phoenix Chi Gulzar.
- She was also married to film producer Stephen Belafonte for a decade, and the two had a daughter, Madison Brown Belafonte.
- The Spice Girls star shares a daughter, Angel Iris Murphy Brown, with actor Eddie Murphy.
- Mel B also dated film producer Christine Crokos for four years, from 2002 to 2006.
- Mel B and her current husband, hairstylist Rory McPhee, tied the knot in July 2025.
Profile summary
Full name | Melanie Janine Brown |
Nickname | Mel B |
Gender | Female |
Date of birth | 29 May 1975 |
Age | 50 years old (as of March 2026) |
Zodiac sign | Gemini |
Place of birth | Hyde Park, Leeds, United Kingdom |
Current residence | Yorkshire Dales, United Kingdom |
Nationality | British |
Ethnicity | Mixed |
Religion | Christianity |
Sexuality | Straight |
Height in feet | 5'5" |
Height in centimetres | 165 |
Weight in pounds | 123 |
Weight in kilograms | 56 |
Hair colour | Black |
Eye colour | Dark brown |
Father | Martin Brown |
Mother | Andrea Brown |
Siblings | 1 |
Marital status | Married |
Partner | Rory McPhee |
Children | 3 |
School | Leeds West Academy |
College | Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Leeds College of Music, Leeds Beckett University |
Profession | Singer, songwriter, dancer, television personality, actress |
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Who was Mel B married to? Full relationship timeline before Rory McPhee
The British singer, Mel B, has had a widely publicised love life. She was married to dancer Jimmy Gulzar and film producer Stephen Belafonte, and had other notable relationships. Here's a closer look at her relationship timeline before marrying Rory McPhee.
Jimmy Gulzar (1998–2000)
Mel B and Dutch dancer Jimmy Gulzar's relationship began during the Spice Girls' 1998 Spiceworld Tour. They met on stage while performing across Europe and the US, and just two months later, they became engaged. In the 2002 BBC Choice documentary, Mel B's Ex: The Jimmy Gulzar Story, Jimmy said:
We danced together provocatively on stage throughout Europe and the US... it was an explosion of energy that people didn't see behind the scenes.
Source: Getty Images
The couple married on 13 September 1998 in Buckinghamshire and welcomed their daughter, Phoenix Chi Gulzar, in February 1999. Their marriage faced pressures from careers, media attention, and personal differences. After 15 months, Mel B filed for divorce in 2000.
Years later, in a February 2025 interview on the Allison Interviews Podcast, Gulzar compared his legal battles with Mel B to "David facing Goliath."
Christine Crokos (2001–2006)
Source: Getty Images
The British actress also had a long-term relationship with film producer Christine Crokos from 2001 to 2006. The pair reportedly lived together in Los Angeles for several years.
The singer has repeatedly pushed back against media narratives that framed the romance as a short-lived experiment. In a May 2016 interview with journalist Jamie Tabberer, later archived on Medium, she clarified that the relationship with Christine Crokos lasted about five years.
It wasn’t experimentation. I fell in love with a woman for five years. An experiment doesn’t last five years.
Despite their breakup, reportedly linked to issues such as possessiveness, the two have remained on good terms. In a 2024 interview with Attitude, she confirmed they still keep in touch and reflected on the relationship, saying:
I happened to fall in love with a woman and was with her for five years. We still talk to this day. I don’t want to put a label on it, but I’ve always thought women are beautiful.
Rumours of a possible romantic reconnection surfaced in 2019 after the two exchanged playful comments on social media. However, neither of them confirmed that the relationship had been rekindled.
Eddie Murphy (2006)
Source: Getty Images
Mel B and the American comedian Eddie Murphy began dating in 2006 after meeting at a dinner party in Los Angeles. She has described their connection as immediate and soul-deep. In her 2018 memoir Brutally Honest, she recalled:
It was like a 2,000-volt surge of electricity had gone through my body... I'd never felt like that before.
They were engaged within months, and Murphy famously tattooed Mel B's name on his hip. However, the relationship ended suddenly in late 2006 while Mel B was pregnant.
The split became a global media story when Murphy questioned the paternity of their unborn child during a December 2006 Dutch TV show interview with RTL Boulevard. He stated, as reported by CBS News:
We're not together anymore. We don't know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test. You shouldn't jump to conclusions.
Source: Getty Images
A DNA test confirmed Eddie Murphy's paternity of their daughter, Angel Iris Murphy Brown, who was born on 3 April 2007, Murphy’s own birthday. In recent years, they have developed a strong co-parenting relationship. Reflecting on how they built that bond, Mel B told E! News in May 2025:
It was hard for me to step out and have that relationship with Eddie flourish... I managed to do it bit by bit. He has 10 kids and he's a proper father.
Stephen Belafonte (2007–2017)
Source: Getty Images
The Spice Girls star Mel B was married to film producer Stephen Belafonte for a decade. Their relationship began shortly after Mel B's daughter, Angel, was born. It culminated in a secret Las Vegas wedding in June 2007. The couple later welcomed a daughter, Madison Brown Belafonte, in 2011.
For years, the couple maintained a public image of closeness and harmony. Behind the scenes, however, the marriage was marked by tension and control. By March 2017, Mel B filed for divorce, seeking a restraining order and citing a "dark history" of domestic violence. She told The Guardian in December 2018:
It was just lie after lie after lie, and I got used to lying. I didn't want anyone to find out what was going on.
Reflecting on the challenge of maintaining that public image while suffering in private, Mel B told Cosmopolitan UK later that month:
You end up putting on a brave face and hoping that nobody finds out [what’s going on at home], because it’s just too much. If you have to admit it to anybody else, that means you have to admit what’s going on to yourself, which is another horrendous, traumatic thing to do as an abused person.
Source: Getty Images
Belafonte has consistently denied all allegations. In a Page Six interview in May 2024, he said:
Never, not once. We never had a physical argument. We never had anything close to it… and to think that I was this monster… I'm a goofball.
Legal disputes continued through 2024 and into 2025. This included the discharge of a non-molestation order Mel B had sought, with a UK judge ordering her to pay Belafonte's legal costs. Stephen also defended his reputation in a June 2024 podcast titled Spice Girl Mel B is a LIAR.
FAQs
- Who is Mel B? She is a British singer, songwriter, actress, and TV personality, best known as "Scary Spice" of the iconic girl group the Spice Girls.
- How many times has Mel B been married? Mel B is currently in her third marriage.
- Who was Mel B married to for 10 years? The singer was married to Stephen Belafonte for about 10 years, from 2007 to 2017.
- How long were Eddie Murphy and Mel B together? Actor Eddie Murphy and Mel B's relationship lasted roughly nine months in 2006.
- Was Mel B married to Eddie Murphy? The singer was never married to Eddie Murphy.
- Do Mel B and Eddie Murphy have a kid together? They have a daughter together named Angel Iris Murphy Brown.
- Who fathered Mel B's kids? Mel B has three daughters: Phoenix Chi Gulzar with her first husband, Jimmy Gulzar; Angel Iris Murphy Brown with actor Eddie Murphy; and Madison Brown Belafonte with her second husband, Stephen Belafonte.
- When did Mel B and Rory McPhee get married? The couple got married on 5 July 2025, at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
Before marrying Rory McPhee in 2025, Mel B experienced two marriages. She was first married to Jimmy Gulzar, with whom she shares her eldest daughter, and later to Stephen Belafonte, father of her youngest daughter. Mel also had a brief, high-profile romance with Eddie Murphy, with each relationship shaping her life as a mother and public figure.
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Proofreading by Kola Muhammed, copy editor at Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
