Learn to embrace the unexpected: MEL B reveals the one lesson she’s learned from life

Melanie Brown, 48, rose to fame in the 1990s in the band The Spice Girls. She moved on to a solo career and as a talent show judge on The X Factor.

The mother of three daughters is divorced and lives in Leeds.

LEARN TO EMBRACE THE UNEXPECTED

Even as a child, things didn’t turn out the way they should. My mother thought I was a very active child, but it wasn’t until my much calmer sister came along five years later that she realized I was more than that.

I was a real handful. So when I was six or seven, I started taking local dance lessons to expend my energy, which led to me loving the entertainment world and wanting to dance and sing.

She received an MBE in 2022 for services to charity and vulnerable women

If it hadn’t been for that, I might not have been a Spice Girl.

In my early forties I was diagnosed with ADHD, ADD, dyspraxia and dyslexia and a lot of my little girl behavior suddenly made sense. It would have been much easier for Mom and for me if we had known that at the time.

As the Spice Girls, we knew we had something special. We experienced a lot of rejections in the beginning, but it spurred us to work harder.

We became so successful that very unexpected things happened to us again. I had so many firsts with the group – writing our own songs, taking a plane to America, performing in a stadium, making a movie, touring the world!

What I didn’t expect was that it would be over so quickly. We were all so committed and on such a mission.

Melanie had many firsts with the Spice Girls – writing their own songs, taking a plane to America, performing in a stadium, making a movie, touring the world

Of course it’s not over for good. We took a different path in 2000, but in 2019 we reunited to perform and tour. I didn’t see that coming either.

I lived in LA for 25 years and two of my three daughters were born there. When we came over for the Spice Girls tour in 2019, my kids asked, ‘Why do we live in LA? Your whole family lives in Leeds.’ That was something I didn’t expect.

So I moved back to Leeds in 2019 with my daughters Phoenix and Angel, and my other daughter, Madison, is spending her school holidays with us. Now I live minutes from my mother, my sister, and my aunts and uncles.

It’s great, except on a Saturday morning when three of your aunts want to come over and just knowingly use your pool, without even asking!

• Mel appears in the new series Queen Of The Universe, available weekly on Saturdays on Paramount+