Melanie Brown Wins Custody Battle

About Melanie Brown

In the 1990s, Melanie Brown shot to stardom as one of the members of the women’s singing group The Spice Girls. While Melanie Brown wasn’t a household name, her moniker of Scary Spice was very well known.

The Spice Girls split in 2000 and while Brown didn’t have much exposure after the group disbanded, she did have a high profile year in 2007:

• Announced that actor Eddie Murphy was the father of her unborn child; later it was confirmed that Murphy was in fact the father of Angel Iris.
• Joined the reality dance competition Dancing with the Stars, where she and partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy placed second.
• Reunited with her Spice Girls bandmates and started a worldwide tour.

Custody Troubles

Melanie Brown and dancer Jimmy Gulzar divorced in 2000, but recent events led Gulzar to seek custody of the couple’s nine-year-old daughter, Phoenix Chi.

Brown and Gulzar had an agreed upon visitation schedule, but once Brown joined the Spice Girls on tour, he refused to adjust that schedule. Gulzar attempted to halt Brown’s ability to take the child on tour.

Unsuccessful Custody Attempt

Gulzar’s attempt to restrict Melanie Brown from taking Phoenix on tour was blocked by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert Schnider and Brown continues to have sole legal and physical custody of the child.