Mel B grateful for Christmas after going through ‘hell and back’ in ‘dark’ year

Melanie Brown has said she has been through “hell and back” but that she is grateful for Christmas this year.

Speaking to Hello! magazine, the Spice Girls star described last Christmas as a “very dark time”.

She said: “I’ve been through hell and back over the last few years. Part of the reason I’m so thankful and joyful about Christmas this year was that last year it was a very dark time for me.”

The 43-year-old performer recently ended a turbulent marriage to second husband Stephen Belafonte, subsequently releasing a tell-all memoir.

She said: “You deal with everything life throws at you, good and bad, fair and unfair, and you try to be as happy and positive as you can.

“I honestly feel the universe is putting my world to rights. This Christmas just feels so special. I don’t need a single gift because I feel that so many of my dreams have come true.

“I refuse to shut down and keep people out of my life. I’m single – I’m not looking for a relationship, but I still believe in love.

“I still believe good things happen and the past few months have been proof of that.”

She also spoke of her joy at discovering that tickets for the Spice Girls reunion tour had sold out in minutes.

She said: “We had no idea of what the response would be (to the tour) and we were calling each other the night before the tickets went on sale.

“Mel C and Emma were both really nervous as to whether people would buy the tickets.

“I’ve obviously got the biggest ego because I was saying ‘Of course they will’, and then they were sold out in a matter of minutes. We were all screaming down the phone and dancing about.”

Read the full interview in Hello! magazine.