22 October 2023 , 08:00
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Melanie Brown MBE might be part of the biggest girl group of all time but at home, she's far from Scary Spice.
Having shot to fame across the globe as one-fifth of the Spice Girls, Mel is known by billions for her bubbly personality and killer vocals. But her kids know her as somebody completely different. Having swapped Los Angeles for her hometown of Leeds, their lives are just like anybody else living in the West Yorkshire city.
Mel, 48, can often be found walking her dogs or heading out for dinner with her nearest and dearest. But at home, her Spice Girls museum is often infiltrated by her eldest daughter, Phoenix. Speaking to the Mirror, the Wannabe legend said that despite always championing the Spice Girls, she's a mum first.
Melanie's eldest child, Phoenix, often rummages through her Spice Girls memorabilia (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Melanie is also mum to Madison and Angel (officialmelb / Instagram)Opening up, she told the Mirror: "Believe it or not I don't sit at home forcing my kids to watch Spice Girl concerts and telling them every achievement we had, haha," while laughing after being asked if Phoenix, 24, Angel, 16, and Madison, 12, are aware of just how famous their mum is. Melanie added: "Phoenix was more aware because she's the oldest and she's the one who loves to rummage through my costumes and look at old memorabilia. But to her, I'm still her mum and that's very much the case with my two youngest. Angel is massively into art and illustration and that's her passion and focus so she would probably be more interested if I was part of the art world, Madi loves coming with me when I work and she absolutely loved the 2019 tour but at the end of the day, I'm still first and foremost their mum, not a Spice Girl."
The chart-mauling group, consisting of Melanie, Victoria Beckham, Geri Horner, Melanie Chisholm and Emma Bunton were famous for breaking down barriers and putting equality first. But while they championed equality, Melanie often found herself on the receiving end of racism.
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Mel and her Spice Girls bandmates smashed through barriers and championed equality (PA)Discussing representing members of the BAME communities and smashing through barriers during Black History Month, she said: "It was massive for me, I represented Brown, I am mixed race. I have a black father from Nevis and a white, blonde mum from Yorkshire. I didn't fully belong to black or to white, I was in this vague place in the middle so for me to find my place, to represent a mixed-race British woman was huge. It was exactly the reason behind me refusing to have my hair straightened for the video of Wannabe. I wanted my fro to be out there as a symbol of who I was, my Yorkshire accent to speak for me and my attitude always to be proud of my identity."
But while filming the video for the famous song, one hairstylist told Melanie she needed to straighten her hair. Speaking previously, she said: "I refused point-blank because my hair was my identity and yes it was different to all the other girls but that was what the Spice Girls were about – celebrating our differences. And then I'd get really emotional letters from girls, and their mums, saying how incredible it was that they had someone to 'be' when they did dances in the playground at school and they were actually daring to wear their hair out and proud rather than scraped back or straightened. That was a big deal to me."