Scary Spice denies new hubby is a wife-beater

SPICE Girl Mel B has denied that her new husband is a wife-beater.

Film producer Stephen Belafonte was charged with battery of an ex-girlfriend in May 2003.

He pleaded no contest, was placed on probation and ordered to attend a domestic violence programme.

But Mel told Hello! magazine: “Everything I stand for is about being a strong, independent woman, so for him to be seen as a wife-beater is devastating for me because he’s not — he never has been.

“The only thing I don’t like is that my friends and family read this and go into shock-horror mode, thinking ‘Oh, she’s married a psychopath’.”

Mel said Belafonte had been through counselling and is “fully aware of what he’s done”. She said: “They’re trying to make him out to be this aggressive, violent, woman-hitter, and he’s not. He’s never hit a woman.”

The 32-year-old star secretly wed Belafonte in June after a whirlwind romance.

Mel, aka Scary Spice, is involved in a legal battle with actor Eddie Murphy over maintenance for their baby daughter, Iris.