Book Review: Brutally Honest by Melanie Brown

Mel B, Scary Spice, her of the leopard print catsuit and loud mouth, has certainly had a tough few years. I’d heard a lot of the rumours surrounding her infamous marriage breakdown to then husband Stephen Belafonte, and the rift with her family, but quite honestly I didn’t expect her to be quite so upfront about what really went on behind those closed doors for ten years. This really is brutally honest, and I admire the courage and strength that it must have taken for her to put this all to paper. The emotional abuse she had to deal with (and her children had to deal with) is awful, and you can feel that pain written in every word. At her worst she was a shell of her former self, locked in a battle with drugs and alcohol to try and block out her life.

This is a book primarily about Mel’s relationships with men. If you’re looking for memories of her time with the Spice Girls, this isn’t the book for you (although they are mentioned, and it’s a joy to read when they are). It’s squarely focused on all the men who’ve made an impact on her life, starting with her father, through to Jimmy her first husband, Eddie Murphy (the supposed ‘love of her life’) and, of course, Stephen. She discusses what she feels caused her to pick the worst kind of man imaginable, and also offers up that grain of hope that even if you are stuck in an abhsive relationship there’s always a way out. It might take time - it took Mel an additional three years and the death of her father to finally leave Stephen for good, but it can be done. 

At times I found the writing a little all over the place, and some sentences or paragraphs were repeated several times throughout the book (such as Mel reminiscing about when she bought her parents a house, which she explains no less than three times). There’s also no clear structure or timeline, going from that fateful night before the X Factor show when she tries to commit suicide, back to her childhood, Eddie, Stephen again, back to Jimmy etc. It feels chaotic, and this is a big reflection of Mel B herself who comes across as quite the whirlwind. Some focus would have helped however, as at times I struggled to get to grips with the time frames. 

A raw, sometimes difficult read, that I hope helps Mel deal with a truely traumatic time in her life. I hope she can finally accept herself, and find the peace she certainly deserves.