Mel B shares rare insight about co-parenting with ‘proper father’ Eddie Murphy
The Shrek star has 10 children.
Mel B has spoken about how co-parenting with ex Eddie Murphy has ‘flourished even more’ these days after years of difficulty.
The Spice Girls star, 49, shares 18-year-old child Angel with the US comedian, 64, although it hasn’t always been smooth-sailing for the trio.
Angel is one of Eddie’s ten children including Eric, 35, with Paulette McNealy, Bria, 35, Myles, 32, Shayne, 30, Zola, 25, and Bella, 23, with Nicole Murphy, Christian, 34, with Tamara Hood and Izzy, eight, and Max, six, with wife, Paige Butcher.
Now Mel B has moved back to Leeds, England and settled down in a relationship with fiancé Rory McPhee, she has revealed to US Weekly that their friendship has gone from strength to strength.
The America’s Got Talent judge – who also has 26-year-old Phoenix with dancer Jimmy Gulzar and Madison, 13, with ex-husband Stephen Belafonte – reflected on how her PTSD and experiences with coercive control impact her co-parenting relationship with Eddie.
She said: ‘I think being in the kind of [situation] that I was in, it was hard for me to step out and have that relationship [with Eddie] flourish. I managed to do it bit by bit.’
The pair dated in 2006 and had Angel in 2007 at which point they had broken up (Picture: Visual Press Agency)With Mel settled on her 15-acre farmhouse in Leeds and Eddie in a Beverly Hills mansion, the former couple seemed to have found a happy medium.
‘Angel is coming over [to Murphy’s house]. They spend time together. They go on holiday together. He has [10] kids and he’s a proper father,’ she explained.
And spoke about his interest in ‘art and Japanese culture’ although added he keeps ‘very much to himself’.
She added: ‘He went to Japan last year with his girlfriend and just embraced the whole Japanese vibe,” the TV personality says. “[Angel] speaks fluent Japanese and he knows exactly what he wants to do and where he wants to go.’
She has three children and recently celebrated Angel’s 18th brithday (Picture: FilmMagic)On his 18th birthday, she shared a heartfelt message on Instagram celebrating the milestone.
You are so special and so bright and so talented!! I couldn’t be prouder of watching you grow and become the person you are but you’ll forever be my babyyyy.
‘I hope you keep chasing your dreams and be kind to everyone around you like you always have been my Angel,’ she wrote in a caption earlier this year.
Mel has not often been vocal about her co-parenting with Eddie, whom she dated in 2006 before they welcomed Angel in 2007. At the time, he publicly doubted their child’s paternity.
In 2018 she wrote that the Shrek star was the love of my life’ in her memoir, Brutally Honest.
‘Eddie was and still is the love of my life. He’s a genuinely decent man,’ she recalled at the time as she revealed how close they had been to getting married.
Her other child Phoenix was recently the star of a Channel 4 documentary (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)As for Mel’s other children, Phoenix recently fronted a Channel 4 documentary called Born in the Limelight – Nepo Babies: UNTOLD that reflected on her own journey as the child of famous parents.
‘I’ve never really related to the word “nepo baby” in the sense of when they call me that in the press,’ she told Metro at the time.
‘When we did more of a deep dive on the word nepotism and how it bleeds into everyone’s lives one way or another in certain aspects, I was like, “Yeah, I do get why people don’t like me”.
‘Or if they would hear about me, and they’re like, “Oh, she didn’t work for anything.” I would see their point of view. I feel like that was the point of the documentary.’
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