Mel B Gets New Tattoo With Cryptic Message Ahead of Rehab Treatment

Before Mel B entered rehab to be treated for alcoholism and sex addiction, the America’s Got Talent judge and her boyfriend got matching tattoos.

Click here to see the tattoo.

The singer, whose real name is Melanie Brown, shared photos with The Sun, showing off the new tattoo on her right forearm. It reads, “Love me or leave me alone” and includes a cute illustration of an owl.

Her boyfriend Guy Madatyan got the same tattoo on his forearm, but replaced the owl with a butterfly.

The duo got their tattoos at a Beverly Hills studio. Both of them arrived wearing all-white outfits.

Brown, 43, announced her rehab stint early Sunday in a statement to The Sun. The former Spice Girls singer said she was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and is seeking treatment for alcoholism and sex addiction.

“I have recently been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. The past six months have been incredibly difficult for me. I’ve been working with a writer on my book, Brutally Honest, and it has been unbelievably traumatic reliving an emotionally abusive relationship and confronting so many massive issues in my life,” Brown told The Sun. “I am being very honest about drinking to numb my pain but that is just a way a lot of people mask what is really going on.”

Brown admitted to using sex and alcohol to cope with life’s challenges, including her bitter divorce from Stephen Belafonte. She recently reached a “crisis point” where she realized she had to seek help.

Brown filed for divorce from Belafonte in 2017. During the long divorce process, the couple traded restraining orders, with Brown accusing Belafonte of abuse and Belafonte denying the allegations. The two finally reached a divorce settlement earlier this month.

“I’m not perfect, and I have never pretended to be,” Brown said. “But I am working on being a better version of myself for my kids – whom I love more than life itself – and for all the people who have supported me.”

Brown’s mother, Andrea Brown, also praised her daughter for deciding to seek help.

“I’m so proud of my daughter. She has the courage to face demons head on and deal with them. I know what the hell she has been through, and I know what traumas she has suffered and still suffers,” Andrea Brown wrote in a message on Twitter.

Brown said she is going to rehab in the U.K., but it is not clear if this will impact Brown’s duties on America’s Got Talent.

“I have made the decision to go into a proper therapy programme in the next few weeks, but it has to be in the UK because I am very, very British, and I know that will work best for me,” Brown explained. “I am still struggling but if I can shine a light on the issue of pain, PTSD and the things men and women do to mask it, I will do. I am speaking about this because this is a huge issue for so many people.”

Brown’s memoir, Brutally Honest, will be released on Nov. 27.

Photo credit: Steve Granitz/WireImage/Getty Images