The solo career of Scary Spice, Melanie Brown, becomes quite difficult after the 2007 Spice Girls reunion. Despite proving herself as a successful TV talent judge, on formats such as X Factor and Americas Got Talent, Mel B has struggled in her personal life with accusations of Domestic Abuse and Drug addiction. Mostly connected to her marriage with Stephen Belafonte.

Although Pod of the Pops is a light hearted podcast, and we are reloving these popculture moments, it would be amiss of us not to cover this indepth. As such, this episode does come with a trigger warning. 

Mostly, we are proud the Mel B found the courage to leave a situation that was clearly distressing and problematic for many involved. We think this can be a beacon of light for many people who feel trapped in their own situations and hope we can make a new episode, in many years time, that shows her going from strength to strength. 

Before this, we chat about the Spice Girls solo career including:

• Dancing with the Stars. Takes part in series 5 of Dancing with the Stars with Maksim Chmerkovskiy. She comes in second
• Her Las Vegas Revue: Peepshow. A burlesque show created by Jerry Mitchell and the longest-running live show at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino.  
• Fitness Spice. A DVD, a playstation game and the face of Jenny Craig. 
• Her TV show, Dance your ass off
• Her reality show, Its a scary scary world. Including celeb special guests and its own theme tune.
•  Her many many MANY reality tv judging stints. Including X Factor Australia, X Factor UK, Voice Kids and Americas Got Talent
•  Her solo single. The dance record, For Once in My Life, and its crazy music video.
•  Rumours around her leaked third album, including collaborations with Danja

• Acting roles, including Chocolate City 2, Twelve Trees of Christmas, Killing Hasselhoff, Chicago on Broadway and Secret Diary of a call girl 
• Presenting role on LipSync Battle UK alongside Professor Green

•  Her second autobiography, Brutally Honest, which details the bitter divorce from her husband, rumoured sex tapes, domestic abuse, custody battles and money problems