It's been a year filled with highs and lows, but now Melanie Brown's life is sailing into calmer waters, with new husband Stephen Belafonte by her side.
In her frankest interview ever, the Spice Girl has opened her heart to HELLO!, talking intimately about her relationship, their secret wedding, and her hopes for the future – including her wish that Angel Iris, her four-month-old baby by film star Eddie Murphy, will get to know her father.
Speaking during a family holiday in Las Vegas, the exclusive interview, published on Tuesday August 21, reveals a remarkably composed and contented Mel B, happily posing for a series of stunning colour photos with her husband and her two daughters, Angel and eight-year-old Phoenix Chi.
Speaking for the first time about her new love, the Leeds-born performer recalls how she fell for the man she calls "her best buddy" and talks about film producer Stephen's relationship with his three-year-old, Gisele. "When you see a man around his daughter and they're so hands on… it's just gorgeous," she says.
Looking radiant and trim, the singer describes how Stephen's proposal - two months after Angel's birth - took her by surprise. "I took one big, deep breath and said, 'Yes'," she recalls, "as well as going, 'Thank you, God! Don't let me down a third time'."
The famously feisty mother of two also reveals how she is putting the difficulties of her relationship with Angel's father behind her: "He gave me the best gift ever, which is a beautiful, healthy baby," she says. "How can I be mad at that?"