Spice Girls star Mel B has claimed the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation trial shouldn’t be used as “entertainment”.
Depp is suing his ex-wife for libel in the US state of Virginia over an article she wrote for the Washington Post in 2018 – and both have been making bombshell claims that they were both victims of domestic abuse during the case.
Mel has previously claimed to be victim of domestic abuse during her marriage to Stephen Belafonte, allegations he vehemently denies.
Now the singer has told Piers Morgan on his TalkTV show that the trial being televised upsets her and really made her “have a lump in her throat”, after allegedly being in a similar situation.
Mel also told how she fears airing the case on TV will put off victims of domestic violence from trying to bring their attackers to justice.
She told Piers in last night’s episode (May 9): “To me this trial is so not entertainment for me. And what I worry about is that its going to damage future men or women coming forward and making their own claims, or the justice system having doubt or not believing.
(Image: TALK TV)
“Because at the end of the day we can’t get away from the fact that every week in this country two women get killed by their current partner or their former partner, as oppose to 12 men a year.
“So I have to remind myself that I’m glad that people are aware of the situation which is an epidemic of domestic violence and coercive control and any form of abuse but I also think to look at this case as entertainment is damaging and that’s why I haven’t even looked at it at all.”
Mel was embroiled in a bitter divorce battle with Stephen following their split in late 2016.
(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
She filed for a restraining order against him, made their break-up public and aired allegations that he beat her during their turbulent 10-year marriage.
In 2017 the singer allegedly asked judge to keep their court dealings private after she learned that Stephen intended to admit a sex tape into evidence, the Daily Star Sunday reported at the time.
And Mel said the Depp V Heard case makes her emotional as it echoes her own court battle – and makes her imagine what things could have been like if the judge had not approved her request.
(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
She said: “It really made me have a lump in my throat to think this was televised because I know when I went through all my stuff, I actually have to file court papers, to have a closed court room, otherwise TMZ were going to be allowed in and all these other outlets, cameras and filming and all that stuff, luckily the judge granted me for it to be a closed court.”
Mel released her book Brutally Honest in 2018 where she detailed what her life was like with Stephen Belafonte.
She was with him for 10 years, and she has spoken about how he began his coercive abuse on their wedding night in 2007, before experiencing his “reign of terror” for the next decade.
The Leeds-born singer, who is now a patron for Women’s Aid, claimed she was “living a lie” while married to Belafonte and feels “lucky” that her experience is now behind her.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
