Mel B’s estranged husband Stephen Belafonte has demanded she pay him a chunk of her earnings and cover his legal costs in response to her divorce petition.
The 41-year-old singer requested to legally end her marriage with the film producer last month after she claimed she endured a decade of domestic abuse from him, but it doesn’t look like her ex-beau is planning to let things settle without a fight as he’s now filed his official response to her petition and wants a fair slice of her cash.
In the court documents, obtained by TMZ, Stephen has asked for spousal maintenance, although it’s known how much he’s after, and requested that the former Spice Girl fork out for the fees his lawyer is charging to settle the divorce.
However, it’s looks like the former couple are now at a crossroads as there settlement can’t progress unless they agree on a separation date after Mel claimed things came to a halt between them on December 28, while Stephen is adamant it was March 1.
It’s still unknown whether the pair had a prenup in place when they tied the knot in 2007 as both of them acknowledge that there is community property on the line.
The 41-year-old producer has also requested joint legal custody of their five-year-old daughter Madison and, although Mel seemed happy with this when she filed for divorce, the frizzy-haired babe has seemingly had a change of heart over the past few weeks as she asked for sole legal and physical custody in her restraining order.
Stephen’s petition comes days after he was ordered to stay away from Mel and her children after she claimed in court documents that he’d beat her, got their nanny pregnant and forced her to have threesomes during their 10-year marriage.
She alleged the abuse started within the first year of their marriage in 2007 and became a “pattern” for the then-couple with Stephen allegedly choosing to “beat her down to let her know he was in charge” whenever she saw a spike in her career.
Mel – who also has Phoenix, 18, with her first husband Jimmy Gulzar and 10-year-old daughter Angel with Eddie Murphy – has claimed she had previously tried to leave Stephen but he “threatened me with violence and threatened to destroy my life in every possible way … destroy my career and take my kids from me.”
Stephen has denied all the allegations against him.
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