Mel B Feels Her Late Father is Proud of Her For Speaking About This Taboo Topic
It was with great joy that Mel B accepted an MBE for services to charity organizations and vulnerable women, and she expressed her gratitude for being to help bring attention to the "taboo" subject of domestic abuse.
When asked about receiving the honor, the 46-year-old actress said it was "still a little bit unexpected and quite overwhelming" on Steph's Packed Lunch on Thursday.
She said that "standing up for what she believes in' and tearfully told how her late father would be quite "proud" of her after he encouraged her to depart from her abusive husband.
In a statement, Mel, a patron of the Women's Aid organization, shared, ''I'm standing up for something I truly believe in, that I've experienced myself, so to be awarded for that... I'm really proud of it. If I can shed light on it and help in anyway, I'm not going to stop."
"'But it's not about what I've done, I'm the voice for all those other women, and men, that have ever suffered an abusive relationship. This is for all them lot that don't have the platform that I have to speak up about it." Mel said, dedicating the prize to domestic violence victims.
She recalled that back in 2017, the topic was not as welcomed today.
"'When I was speaking about it way back in 2017, it was something people didn't talk about, it was considered icky and taboo and dark and shameful," she explained.
It can be recalled that on her May appearance on "Good Morning Britain," Mel B spoke out about her traumatizing experience of domestic violence.
According to the former Spice Girls singer, 45, it would take "forever" to get her "soul back," after being mistreated in her former marriage. It "does break your soul." She also revealed how difficult it may be for women in abusive circumstances to escape.
Her ex-husband Stephen Belafonte has angrily refuted allegations of "emotional and physical abuse" by Mel, and she has said she tried to leave their marriage for a decade but found it to be a "impossible" scenario.
When Susanna Reid and Adil Ray asked Mel about her experience, she said, "As a woman that's gone through it, it does crush your soul, it does really strip you... I'm going to be taking forever to get that back."
"I''ve had to build myself up. One of the good things for me is to speak to other women who have been in a similar situation."
