Mel B stopped "believing in love " when she came out of her allegedly abusive marriage.

The 48-year-old pop star was married to producer Stephen Belafonte from 2007 until 2017 in what she has alleged was an abusive relationship – although he has always denied the claims - and even though she is now engaged to hairdresser Rory McPhee, 36, admitted that it took her a decade to learn to "build [herself] up" again but was able to trust her fiance because he was already a family friend.

She told Us Weekly: "I didn’t believe in love and trust because I’d had 10 years of such bad abuse that when I came out of that, I was like, I don’t want a relationship. I was so broken down in my self-esteem, my confidence [and] I really had to build myself up.

"To think of sharing myself again with anybody else was too scary for me, but Rory is a family friend, so I already have that trust and that foundation laid."

The Spice Girls singer - who has 12-year-old Madison with Stephen as well as Phoenix, 24, with first husband Jimmy Gulzar, and 16-year-old Angel from her relationship with Eddie Murphy - added that everything just felt "right" when she met her now-fiance and he is the "best thing" that has ever happened for her as she quipped that even his profession comes in handy.

She said: "It just felt safe, right and real, even though many times I went, ‘No, I don’t want a relationship, I can’t handle it.’ He’s just been the best thing that’s happened to me.

"He’s made me believe in love again and trust again. He's got my curls flowing again!"