Pop icon has opened up on ‘starting from scratch’ with just £700 to her name when she left an abusive ex-partner.
The former Spice Girl, 48, revealed that she was sharing a bed with her three children and at budget stores when she.
The pair married in 2007 before splitting in 2017, sharing daughter Madison, 12. The singer also has daughter Phoenix, 25, with ex-husband Jimmy Gulzar, and Angel, 16, with former partner Eddie Murphy.
Brown has accused Belafonte of physical, emotional, and financial abuse over the years, .
Following their divorce in 2018, she returned to her hometown of Leeds and moved into her mother Andrea’s bungalow with her children, and has now opened up on the struggles she faced.
‘People will assume, “She’s rich, she’s a Spice Girl”‘ she told .
‘But I went from performing to thousands at Wembley on the Spice Girls’ 13-date Reunion Tour in 2019 to squeezing into my mum’s with my kids sleeping in bed with me.
‘I didn’t expect that to happen in my 40s after a successful career but I had nowhere else to go.’
She went on to say that she was forced to ‘pick up the pieces’ of the divorce and custody battles, which left her with £700 in the bank.
The Wannabe hitmaker went into details on how she had to cut back her spending and was secretly shopping in budget stores, despite amassing a reported £38.3 million fortune.
‘In LA I hadn’t bought a pint of milk in years, but back home I would buy in bulk from Costco and got really into shopping in Aldi and Lidl,’ she continued.
She said, however, that people ‘did not bat an eyelid’ at the pop sensation in their local supermarket, due to it being ‘Covid times’ and she would wear a mask.
Brown said that she ‘rebuilt herself’ after being in an abusive relationship for years, and budgeting helped the star ‘reclaim her power.’
Previously speaking to Metro.co.uk, the singer stressed the following her split from Belafonte that ‘knocked her confidence to the floor.’
‘I was so embarrassed, so ashamed because I was so in the thick of the abuse, but as soon as I got out all the Spice Girls were there for me,’ she added.
‘They were constantly calling me, I’d go to their houses, it was really nice. It was such a relief to finally talk about it.’
‘I thought [talking about it] was going to end my career because I brought the book out … I wasn’t even going to release it. But my daughter said, “Think about how many women have gone through this.” I’m not the only one, it’s an epidemic. It was a good thing to do.’
Domestic abuse helpline
If you are in immediate danger call 999. If you cannot talk, dial 55 and the operator will respond.
For emotional support, you can contact the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247. Alternatively, for practical and emotional support, please contact 10am – 6pm seven days a week.
You can also reach the National Centre for Domestic Violence on 0800 270 9070 or text NCDV to 60777.
For free and confidential advice and support for women in London affected by abuse, you can call Solace on 0808 802 5565 or email [email protected].
Male victims of domestic abuse can call 01823 334244 to speak to , an initiative available for male victims of domestic abuse and domestic violence across the UK as well as their friends, family, neighbours, work colleagues and employers.
Alternatively, the can be reached at 0808 8010327, or emailed at [email protected].
