Melanie “Mel B” Brown, most known as Scary Spice of the Spice Girls, said “I do” for the third time on July 5 in London. In true Spice fashion, the ceremony was anything but ordinary. The 50-year-old singer and actress married hairstylist Rory McPhee, 37, who she dated for three years before getting engaged during a trip to Berkshire, England, she revealed during an October 2022 appearance on Celebrity Gogglebox.
Happily Ever After
Held at the historic St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, which is the same venue where Princess Diana and Prince Charles wed on July 29, 1981, the event was a royal-level celebration, with double-decker buses and celebrity guests like Brown’s fellow Spice Girl Emma Bunton and comedian Alan Carr.
Australian comedian Dave Hughes, who became friends with the couple while filming “The Masked Singer Australia,” gave fans an exclusive peek at the big day to The Daily Mail Australia. According to Hughes, Mel B arrived 30 minutes late and her dog was the ring bearer — but not before he ran loose in the chapel. “Mel was half an hour late,” he said. “I was slightly concerned Rory was gonna be left at the aisle in his kilt – no undies and no bride. But she turned up!”
He added, “Mel’s little dog was entrusted to bring the ring down the aisle but she got lost and had to be chased around the chapel. Funny moment!”
The reception was held at The Shard.
Mel B wore two wedding dresses: a classic pearl-embellished gown by Josephine Scott for the ceremony and a second look by Justin Alexander for the reception.
Beyond the glitz, Mel B’s wedding marked a powerful new chapter following years of rebuilding after her contentious and very messy split from ex-husband Stephen Belafonte, a film producer to whom she was married from 2007 to 2017. Having overcome financial abuse and personal struggles, Mel B has spoken openly to the BBC about starting over, moving back in with her mother in 2019, and slowly regaining independence. In 2019 she went on a Spice Girls reunion tour and used the money to pay legal fees from her divorce and payments to Belafonte. Mel B was ordered to pay Belafonte $5,000 per month in child support for their daughter, Madison, as part of their divorce settlement. The settlement also included Mel B paying $350,000 in Belafonte’s legal fees.
“I wasn’t just emotionally and physically abused, there was all the financial abuse too,” Mel B, who was also married to Afro-Dutch actor and dancer Jimmy Gulzar (1998–2000) told the BBC. “I didn’t realize that I didn’t have as much money as I thought I had. So I literally had to eat humble pie, live with my mum.”
She continued: “My mum was the kind of person that would say, ‘Oh, you’ve left him now, you’re fine.’ But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“Obviously, any situation is better than being with your abuser, but when you’ve left that kind of abusive situation, it’s like starting all over again. You have to learn to trust people. You have to learn to trust yourself.”
Today, her net worth has been estimated to be between $6 million and $10 million. She’s been a judge on shows like “America’s Got Talent” and “The X Factor UK,” along with hosting and acting gigs in film and TV. In June she released her memoir, “Brutally Honest.”