Melanie ‘Mel B’ Brown decided to say her final goodbyes to ex-husband Stephen Belafonte by removing a tattoo that she got with his name. The body art read, “Stephen, till death do us part you own my heart,” down her side. Opting out of the traditional procedure to get laser removal or a tattoo cover up, Mel B went with a more dramatic approach. Brown got her tattoo surgically removed, requiring thirteen stitches afterwards. Moving forward she will need laser to minimize the incision scar. The singer said that she wanted the tat removed as soon as possible, but chose to keep a remainder of it.
“I wanted the tattoo removed to help close the final chapter on toxic relationship. Even though I’ve taken the steps to remove Stephen’s name from my body, the domestic abuse will forever remain with me.”
In October, Brown and Belafonte reached an agreement on the domestic violence portion of their divorce, when the judge agreed to drop the temporary restraining order Mel filed in April against Stephen. The two will share custody of their 6-year-old daughter Madison. According to People, in July, Mel was ordered to pay Belafonte $40,000 per month in temporary spousal and pay for $140,000 in attorney fees and forensic fees on his behalf. After filing for divorce in March, after 10 years of marriage, everything became finalized on December 15.
