Mel B says hairdresser fiancé Rory McPhee makes her 'feel safe' after abusive ten year marriage to Stephen Belafonte - and credits late ADHD diagnosis for major lifestyle change
Mel B says she 'feels safe' with fiancé Rory McPhee after enduring an abusive ten year marriage to Stephen Belafonte.
The Spice Girl discussed her unexpected relationship with hairdresser Rory, 35, who was a close family friend before they developed a more intimate connection a year after her 2017 divorce.
Appearing on Australia's The Kyle & Jackie O Show, Mel, 48, also detailed how she is handling her ADHD as she gets older after being given a late diagnosis in 2019.
Of her current romance, she said: 'He's a family friend, my cousins best friend. He has been a part of my family for many many years. He was right there in plain sight.
'I didn't see him like that before and he is way younger than me. He was the person who I gave my first copy of my book to, to help me edit.
!['It's so foreign for someone to be so caring': Mel B says she 'feels safe' with fiancé Rory McPhee after enduring an abusive ten year marriage to Stephen Belafonte](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/12/13/75331987-12508647-_It_s_so_foreign_for_someone_to_be_so_caring_Mel_B_revealed_that-a-23_1694520066408.jpg)
'It's so foreign for someone to be so caring': Mel B says she 'feels safe' with fiancé Rory McPhee after enduring an abusive ten year marriage to Stephen Belafonte
!['You do marry your best friend': The Spice Girl, 48, opened up about her unexpected relationship with the hair dresser, 35, who was a close family friend](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/12/13/75332115-12508647-_You_do_marry_your_best_friend_The_Spice_Girl_48_opened_up_about-a-24_1694520070953.jpg)
'You do marry your best friend': The Spice Girl, 48, opened up about her unexpected relationship with the hair dresser, 35, who was a close family friend
'He is the guy that makes me feel safe and knows everything about me, he knows my mum and my dad, even though he has passed. It was just normal.'
Reflecting on the emotional scars she still carries as a result of her abusive marriage, Mel said she still 'jumps out of her skin' during occasional moments with Rory, despite him being acutely aware of her past.
She said: 'He understood I had come from a 10 year very abusive relationship and he was really airing and sensitive to anything.
'He would touch my shoulder and I would jump out of my skin and I will live with that with the rest of my life.
'You do marry your best friend. It's comforting and very strange. For me it's so foreign for someone to be so caring. I would separate friendship, love and sex.'
The pop icon also detailed the secrets behind her good looks as she discussed how ADHD and dyspraxia - a neurodevelopmental disorder which affects coordination and physical movement - has changed her lifestyle.
She said: 'After getting diagnosed with ADHD and dyspraxia which is what made me do a overhaul of the lifestyle change. I always new I was a bit off but now I know what it is I can start to treat my mental health in certain way.
'What I'm saying is I knew I was different to people and that's probably how I got doing what I'm doing, like the Spice Girls and being an entertainer.
!['I have really embraced the diagnoses': The singer also detailed how she is handling her ADHD as she gets older after being diagnosed in 2019](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/12/13/75331989-12508647-_I_have_really_embraced_the_diagnoses_The_singer_also_detailed_h-a-22_1694520058793.jpg)
'I have really embraced the diagnoses': The singer also detailed how she is handling her ADHD as she gets older after being diagnosed in 2019
![Mel and Rory are thought to have been dating since 2018 with things becoming more serious the following year when Mel returned to the UK for the Spice Girls reunion tour (pictured 2019 L-R Mel, Emma Bunton, Geri Horner, Mel C)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/12/12/75332309-12508647-image-a-21_1694519883107.jpg)
Mel and Rory are thought to have been dating since 2018 with things becoming more serious the following year when Mel returned to the UK for the Spice Girls reunion tour (pictured 2019 L-R Mel, Emma Bunton, Geri Horner, Mel C)
'Some people are terrified of being diagnosed but I have really embraced the diagnoses and it made me understand how my brain works and how I need to take care of myself. I really took it on board.
'You have to look after yourself. I'm doing sauna and ice baths everyday and meditating I'm doing the whole lifestyle change which I've always wanted to do. I love the ice bath it tightens everything up.'
Mel and Rory are thought to have been dating since 2018 when they met through mutual friends in Los Angeles, including celebrity make-up artist Renee Camilleri.
Their relationship became more serious the following year when Mel returned to the UK for the Spice Girls reunion tour.
It's claimed that the Leeds-born hairdresser Rory got down on one knee to propose at luxury country hotel Cliveden House in Berkshire with a £100k ($196,405 AUD) diamond ring in November 2022.
Mel shares eldest daughter Phoenix, 24, with Dutch dancer Jimmy Gulzar, who she met in 1998 when he was hired as a dancer for a Spice Girls world tour.
The couple got engaged in May 1998, she announced her pregnancy a month later and they were married that September in Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire.
Their divorce was finalised in 2000.
Scary Spice is also mum to middle daughter Angel Iris Murphy Brown, 16, who she co-parents with Hollywood actor Eddie Murphy, 62.
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