Mel B was bullied at school because of her hair.

The 49-year-old pop star - who shot to fame alongside Geri Halliwell, Melanie C, Emma Bunton, and Victoria Beckham as part of the Spice Girls in the late 1990s - has always had "big wild curly hair" but admitted that it caused her to be "singled out" at school and even faced pressure from makeup artists in the early days of her career to straighten it.

On World Afro Day (10.09.24), she wrote on Instagram: My hair has always been a personal statement - all my life. I grew up a mixed race girl in working class Leeds in the 1970s. Kids at school had no idea what to call me. I was different.

"And I had my big wild curly hair that stood out. It wasnt neat and tidy. There was too much of it to fit into elastic hair bands and I wore it out. I got called names. I got singled out. But it was my hair and I wasnt going to change it - for anyone.

"The very first video shoot I did as a Spice Girl for 'Wannabe', the stylists took one look at my hair and told me it had to be straightened. My big hair didn't fit the pop star mould."

However, the 'I Want You Back' hitmaker - who has Phoenix , 25, with first husband Jimmy Gulzar, Angel, 17, from her relationship with Hollywood star Eddie Murphy and 13-year-old Madison with her ex-husband Stephen Belafonte - refused to get rid of her natural look and is now "proud" of the "impact" her decision has had on women around the world.

She said: "But I stood my ground - backed by my girls - and I sang and danced as me with my big hair, my brown skin and I was totally proud of who I was. I had no idea the impact that video had on thousands of little brown and black girls all over the country. Women still come up to me to this day and tell me they stopped straightening their hair.

"They let their curls shine out in playgrounds everywhere as they finally got to have a place in a ‘girl band’ in the playground. That makes me so proud. I love my curls.

"I have three children with big curly hair and all of them take pride in their their hair, their identity and their culture. I also know that sometimes they have faced issues with their hair - as I did.

"We are who we are and no one should try to discriminate or change us. So yes. I'm proud to support World Afro Day in its call for the Equality Act to protect against Afro hair discrimination in the UK."