Mel B Denies Alcoholism Claims Amid Drug Test Submission

The former Spice Girls singer, whose full name is Melanie Brown, was in court after her ex-husband, Stephen Belaphonte, accused her of struggling with alcohol and drugs, reports Us Weekly. However, Brown denied the allegation in a court filing.

Brown’s attorney, Taline Boyamian, said Brown would agree to take drug tests for the next three months and take a full psychiatric evaluation. Boyamian asked Belafonte to agree to random drug testing, but the judge said Boyamian did not have any proof that Belafonte needed to be tested.

The court hearing was the latest chapter in Belafonte and Brown’s messy divorce. Although the two reached a settlement earlier this month, the two are still deciding custody for their 6-year-old daughter Madison. During Friday’s hearing, they reached a confidential settlement, according to Us Weekly.

“The bottom line is we are not here because we want to be,” Belafonte’s attorney, Grace Jamra, said during the hearing. “We are here for Madison.”

Brown later told the judge she will “make it work,” but said she had to go film a new episode of America’s Got Talent. She tried to lighten the mood by joking, “I will have a lot more makeup on.”

Before the hearing, The Blast reported that Russell Updergraff, who claims to have been a caretaker for Brown and Belafonte’s children, filed a declaration in which he accused Brown of having a “serious drinking problem.”

Brown “usually drinks daily, often passing out later in the day or blacking out,” Updergraff claimed.

Updergraff said Brown started drinking beer as early as 10 a.m. before she began drinking wine or hard liquor. He also claimed Brown once asked him to get cocaine when she was in the hospital giving birth to Angel, her daughter with ex-husband Jimmy Gulzar.

“Aside from the obvious alcohol addiction and her addiction to multiple partners that she brings around the children, I truly believe that Melanie is mentally and/or psychologically unstable and is suffering from some form of mental health issue,” Updergraff’s declaration reads. “I do not believe the children are safe in her custody without supervision or monitoring. I do not believe it is in the children’s best interests to be left in her care. Until Melanie gets the help that she needs, the children must be protected.”

The hearing happened just days after Brown announced last weekend that she is going to rehab in the U.K. to seek treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, alcoholism and sex addiction.

“Sometimes it is too hard to cope with all the emotions I feel. But the problem has never been about sex or alcohol — it is underneath all that. I am fully aware I have been at a crisis point. No one knows myself better than I do – but I am dealing with it,” Brown said in a statement to The Sun. “I’m not perfect, and I have never pretended to be. 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 next court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 4. Episodes of America’s Got Talent air on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.

Photo credit: Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic/Getty Images