Mel B says breaking her ribs was "nothing compared" to allegedly suffering through an 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 she has now claimed that the pain she felt in that decade was worse than when she suffered a "serious fall" and broke several ribs.

She told The Saturday Times' Style magazine: "In 2018, I suffered a serious fall and broke several ribs, but that was nothing compared with what I went through for ten years in my abusive relationship. Whether you’ve been abused for an hour, a day or a month, it sticks on you, because you’re constantly told that you’re not good enough: you’re not worthy; you’re fat; you’re ugly. That’s why body confidence is so important to me. Once you leave an abuser, it doesn’t just stop. Especially if you have kids with that person."

The Spice Girls star - who received an MBE in 2022 for her services to charitable causes and vulnerable women - has 11-year-old Madison with Stephen as well as Angel, 16, with Eddie Murphy and 24-year-old Phoenix with Jimmy Gulzar and went on to allege that she is on a "never-ending journey" to recovery following the alleged abuse and still goes to her local Women's Aid shelter for therapy.

She added: "They can still carry on abusing you through the courts. It’s a never-ending journey to piece yourself back together and feel like yourself again. I go to a Women’s Aid shelter down the road to get my therapy. I used to have to bash on people’s doors for them to listen to me about domestic violence. When I brought out my memoir Brutally Honest in 2018, no one wanted to talk about it. Now we’re less ashamed to speak out.