AceShowbiz - Melanie Brown no longer believed in love after she came out of her allegedly abusive marriage. The 48-year-old pop star was wed 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.

"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," she told Us Weekly.

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!"