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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Nanny Says Spice Girl Seduced and Defamed Her

Melanie Brown, aka “Scary Spice” of the Spice Girls, falsely accused her German exchange student nanny of an ongoing affair with her soon-to-be ex-husband, according to a defamation lawsuit.

(CN) - Melanie Brown, aka “Scary Spice” of the Spice Girls, falsely accused her German exchange student nanny of an ongoing affair with her soon-to-be ex-husband, according to a defamation lawsuit.

The nanny says that while she was young and naïve, the Spice Girl seduced her with “alcohol, fame and casual sex” before hiring her as a nanny.

Brown, also known as Mel B, is in the process of divorcing her husband Stephen Belafonte in Los Angeles.

In Brown’s declaration seeking a restraining order against Belafonte, she “needlessly and gratuitously” included details about the couple’s former nanny, Lorraine Gilles, according to Gilles’ complaint filed late last week in Los Angeles Superior Court.

These details “portray Gilles as a homewrecker, prostitute, and extortionist, maliciously describing Gilles as being impudent, unscrupulous, and exploitative,” the 17-page complaint says.

“Moreover, given Brown’s celebrity status, Brown was aware or should have been aware that the declaration would be publicized and made available to the public at large,” Gilles adds.

Among other things, Brown said in her declaration that Belafonte paid Gilles $300,000 for nanny services over the course of three years, impregnated her, and convinced her to have an abortion.

After a fraught relationship, Brown fired Gilles, then rehired her when Belafonte “went ballistic” and things “fell back into the same old pattern,” according to Brown’s declaration.

“This time, however, [Belafonte] treated Lorraine as if she was his wife and I was second rate…Lorraine felt empowered by this and became manipulative and demanding of me, knowing that I could not fire her,” Brown said.

Belafonte continued to pay Gilles even after Brown fired her permanently, Brown claimed.

But Gilles tells a different story in her lawsuit, accusing Brown of totally mischaracterizing the relationship Gilles had with the couple and their children.

Gilles claims the pop star “embraced Gilles’ youth, sexuality, and kind nature, treated Gilles as a best friend and lover, and trusted Gilles enough for her to grow close to her children and serve as a mother figure for her children for seven years.”

According to Gilles, the Spice Girl used “alcohol, fame, and casual sex” to seduce her when she arrived in the U.S. as an exchange student in 2009. Shortly after meeting, Gilles, Belefonte and Brown had three-way sex, which was Brown’s idea, the complaint says.

Gilles and Brown would occasionally have sex over the course of the next years while she continued working as a nanny.

“Brown also took on the role of ‘mentor’ towards Gilles, teaching Gilles about sex, raising a family, and the entertainment business and bringing Gilles on her travels across the world,” the complaint says.

According to Gilles, the only times she had sex with Belafonte  were when “Brown herself invited her husband to join the couple in the bedroom, at which point Brown would often serve as the ‘camera man’ and record the sexual encounter and/or take part in the ménage a trois herself.”

Gilles denies that Belafonte got her pregnant, instead claiming that her pregnancy resulted from a “one night stand” she had with a man she met at a West Hollywood bar.

Gilles is suing Brown and doe defendants for libel, invasion of privacy and emotional distress. She is seeking compensatory, special and punitive damages.

She is represented by attorneys from Caskey & Holzman in Calabas, California.

Categories / Entertainment

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