In the world today, we have a lot of film producers who know their onions but they are yet to hit the spotlight in Hollywood. Among them is Stephen Stansbury, best known as Stephen Belafonte. He is a successful American actor, filmmaker, producer, and director notable for movies like Thank You for Smoking, Sister, Singing Office and many others.
Other than his burgeoning film career, Belafonte also got famous for other reasons pertaining to his marital life. The multitalented film producer has two high profile divorces to his name one of which was with a former pop star and an X-Factor Judge Melanie Brown popularly called Mel B. The secret behind their divorce was exposed by his ex-wife who appeared in an X-Factor show and accused Stephen of beating her and getting their nanny pregnant.
Bio – Who is Stephen Belafonte?
Stephen Belafonte originally called Stephen Stansbury was born on 18th May 1975 in Los Angeles, California, United States of America. He is an American citizen who identifies as a Caucasian by Ethnicity. Stansbury changed his birth name at the age of 18 to Stephen Belafonte perhaps to gain more acceptance in Hollywood as the supposed son of The Banana Boat Song singer Harry Belafonte. It was his ex-wife Mel B who disclosed this in her divorce petition.
He schooled in Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California where he graduated from earning a Bachelors degree. Stephen then started his career as an actor at a young age, he revealed that he gained a lot of experiences in the movie industry which led him to create his own film producing firm named Remacy. He has worked on films like Thank you for Smoking (as an associate producer), Bad Lieutenant: Port of call New Orleans and some others. His success as a producer grew to a large scale when he began a relationship with Melanie Brown.
Stephen Belafonte’s net worth is estimated to be about $5, 000, 000 which he makes from film and movie productions. However, it is believed that his net worth will increase the more since his ex-wife Melanie Brown compensated him to the sum of more than $8.3 million following their divorce.
Family – Parents and Grandfather
His parents are Sheryl Stansbury and Thomas Stansbury. Although not much is known of the 6 siblings of Stephen Belafonte except for the fact that he has an elder brother called Jeremiah Stansbury.
No record of his grandfather was noted, but it is believed that Stephen Belafonte is not related to the iconic human right activist and superstar actor Harry Belafonte, following his ex-wife’s revelation as to why he changed his name and his subsequent silence on the subject matter since then. Many people hold it as a truism that he changed his name to Belafonte to gain popularity within the Hollywood circle.
His Kids, Wife, and Divorce
Stephen Belafonte has 2 daughters, one was from his ex-girlfriend, former model and actress Nicole Contreras with whom he was in 6 years relationship with, after his divorce from his first wife Nancy Carmell whom he married in 1997 but she sadly left him in 1999. Nicole gave birth to Giselle Belafonte in 2004 and his second biological child Madison Melanie Belafonte was born to him by ex-wife Mel B.
Although Stephen Belafonte was previously married to 2 beautiful women, his marriages with both women ended in divorces. His first wife, Nancy Carmell, reportedly fled from her marriage with the filmmaker back to her native home in Honolulu but no reason was given for her action. It is said that she filed for divorce from her then-husband Stephen Belafonte from the safety of her hometown.
His second wife, Melanie Brown is a multi-talented member of the defunct music group Spice Girl, an X-Factor Judge, singer, actress, songwriter, television personality popularly referred to as Mel B.
Melanie Brown and Stephen started dating after they met on the set of ‘Talk’. in February 2007 by June 6th same year the couple were quietly married in Las Vagas but they, however, renewed their marital vows in November 2008 in Egypt after which Stephen Belafonte promised his wife a diamond ring for every 3 years she stayed with him in the marriage.
Five years into their marriage on 1st September 2011, their daughter Madison Brown Belafonte was birthed, she would be Mel B’s third child while she is Stephen Belafonte’s second child. Madison Belafonte was showered with love by her parents right from her birth, but as time went by, things fell apart for the couple when the Scary Spice appeared on X-factor with bruises on her face which she alleged were inflicted on her by her husband. Subsequently, Mel B separated from Stephen in 2016 while she filed for divorce from him in March 2017.
The divorce was a very traumatic one, bitter to the core as there were back and forth allegations; about 64 (sixty-four) sex tapes, mental abuse, Excessive use of drugs on the part of Mel B, endangerment of their kid, emotional battering, physical violence, infidelity and impregnating of their nanny Lorraine Giles by Stephen. The court, however, ruled that Mel B should pay Stephen Belafonte spousal support for 3 years with a monthly sum pegged at about $30, 500 inclusive of legal fees and proceeds from their house after their divorce was approved.
Their divorce was finalized in December 2017 with a confidential agreement. Since then, both of them have moved on with their individual lives with the 6 ft tall Stephen rumored to be dating the television host and fashion designer Jessica Rich while Mel B released her second book which told all there is to know about her marriage and divorce from Stephen Belafonte.
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