Hot on the heels of her brand new single “For Once In My Life,” Melanie B (née Brown, formerly known as Scary Spice) visited the set of the Howard Stern show this morning to discuss… whatever it is that one discusses on Howard Stern. As Melanie and Howard have been co-hosting America’s Got Talent together as of late, they already had a comfortable rapport, and Mel opened up about her already widely reported but seemingly rarely-discussed bisexuality.
Although Melanie B’s most notorious public romance was with noted Nutty Professor Eddie Murphy, the press has often speculated about her relationships with women. In 2004, Mel was photographed kissing her then-girlfriend, film producer Christine Crokos, with whom she was in a relationship for several years. She said at the time, “People call me lesbian, bisexual or heterosexual, but I know who’s in my bed and that’s it… I have a huge libido and a great sex life.” In this morning’s interview, Stern asked Mel about her five-year relationship with mother-of-two Christa Parker, and she confirmed that the two had been very much in love. Since their relationship’s end, Parker has gone on to make very public claims about Melanie’s mental state and her marriage, alongside another woman named Elizabeth Rodriguez (who claimed to have engaged in several drunken threesomes with Christa Parker and Scary Spice). Honestly, you guys, with all the time we spent pining after Sporty Spice in her track pants, this somehow flew completely under the radar.
but any fool can see they’re falling, i gotta make you understaaaaaand…
In interview posted on Sway’s Universe a couple of weeks ago, Mel described her predilections during this time as a “bisexual phase”, though she claimed said “phase” had only lasted about a year. She went on to say she’d trained her husband to “act like a lesbian” in the bedroom, deeming him “perfect.” She was then asked if she and her husband ever engaged in threesomes with women or if they would consider it in the future, and Mel winkingly declined to answer either question.
During this morning’s interview, Howard Stern asked Mel if she’d ever been attracted to the other Spice Girls, and she replied, “Always, they’re my homies!” Brown added that she’d kissed the whole band at one time or another – “I got my tongue pierced and I wanted to try it out so I kissed all of them.” It seems that there was perhaps more going on in the Union Jack-emblazoned double decker Spice Bus than our fragile teenage brains could have handled at the time. Who can say what the heart wants, what it really really wants?
Various problematic statements about bisexuality aside, her new track “For Once In My Life” is actually pretty harmlessly catchy, especially considering her last memorable solo single was 1998’s Missy Elliott collaboration “I Want You Back.” In the video for her dancefloor-ready anthem, Mel actually does kiss another woman… herself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz1Ov1kW1l0
well it looks like my spice girls fanfiction was not for naught
This part Rubbed me the wrong way:
“Mel described her predilections during this time as a “bisexual phase”, though she claimed said “phase” had only lasted about a year.”
The fact that they used “phase” dismisses this period in mel’s life as a mistake, or some rock bottom point. When it may have been a fun enlightening and totally necessary period of her life where she discovered herself.
I HATE that word! PHASE! We don’t go through sexuality phases. Just like taste and food, we eat what we’re in the mood for whenever we want.
While the word phase rubs me in the wrong way too, I don’t think she dismisses her attraction towards women as a mistake, she’s always been quite vocal and never really regretful of her past experiences.
I feel what you’re saying. I really love this article, Mel is awesome, and the way she talks about her experiences is totally inspiring. I think I’m more upset about how the media interprets what’s she saying. Like “WORLD ITS OKAY NOW, SHE GREW UP AND GOT HER SHIT TOGETHER AND IS NOW WITH A MAN, LIKE SHE SHOULD BE”
i also really wish she hadn’t said that! it’s frustrating that she’s so vocal about some stuff but then sort of buys into this damaging rhetoric that the fact that she doesn’t have a female partner means a “phase” is “over.” such an emotional rollercoaster to read about you, mel b!
I hate the word “phase” too. I also wonder if she doesn’t view it that way because she is married now. She’s not the first married bi actress to describe her past that way, which I find really frustrating. Angelina Jolie made similar claims about her past a few years ago after she hooked up with Brad Pitt. Megan Mullally did too.
Yeah I don’t like the word “phase” at all. I wish they could’ve worded it better.
I went through a “not annoyed by the hetero-normative blinders of the media” phase, but I got over that too.
Also I have to just add, why is this always “fessed up to” after the fact? Its bones in the closet of their past. WHY didn’t we talk about this when it was happening?
Minute 10:28 of this interview: GERI. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BcitTfyahI
This easily wins best headline on the internet today.
THISSSSSS
Does anyone else feel like she still dances with a lot of Spice Girl dance moves?
Once a Spice Girl, always a Spice Girl, I guess…
Pukey spice, you’re cute and I love you.
I had a dream when I was a budding queermo where I was doing some serious cuddling with Mel B.
So, I guess you could say my subconcious has known this forevs.
That happened to me, too, OMG! I wonder if Mel B was every preteen millennial’s first celebrity sex-dream?
Meh. Am I the only person who’s unimpressed? The fact that Mel herself describes it as a “phase” is just reinforcing every stereotype that we bi women are working to overcome. Honestly, when someone just decides to “experiment” or play barsexual/Katy Perry to excite men and then later comes out about it, I think it’s far more detrimental than beneficial to the queer community.
If she considers it a phase and doesn’t consider herself bi, it’s not her place to speak up, or speak about, being bisexual. A person who self-identifies as straight doesn’t belong on the front page of a site for women who love women. Just my two cents.
The sound bites from the howard Stern show don’t match up with a woman who sounds like she’s been in relationships with women for years. From what little I know of the entertainment industry, it sounds like she’s trying to repackage her past so it fits the mainstream stereotype of bisexuality. Gay clubs will play anything with the remotest queer subtext on loop and ALSO super problematic straight music to boot — remember when Blurred Lines was playing on our date night? gag — but straight audiences won’t dance to or buy anything gayer than a song about a possibly bisexual woman who promises she’ll still return to men at the end of the day.
I know we have to accept someone’s identity as what they say they are, but that’s how it seems to me! And it makes me sad, because fuck y’all bandwagoners I always thought she was the hottest.
OMG, this. You’re so right, honey. I think… Yeah, this is 100% spot-on.
Re: “I know we have to accept someone’s identity as what they say they are…” She doesn’t even say she’s bi. She said she had a bi phase. So if her self-identification isn’t even queer then I see no reason to let her into my club.
(I always thought she was the hottest, too.)
((I had a sex dream about her when I was 11 and the prayed a whole bunch because I was scared I might be gay, and also a bad person for having sex dreams.))
(((I’m so fucking glad I’m not 11 anymore.)))
The only answer is to boycott straight people.
i wanna go on record saying i thought a lot of what she said was pretty gross and not very helpful in terms of visibility, and i really wish she had phrased a lot of this really differently, but here we are. :\
May I just say that ever since I found out that Mel B had even the slightest hint of lovin’ the ladies I could do nothing but sigh, les perfection. I definitely agree about the word “phase”. The fact that she states that she “trained her husband to be a lesbian in the bedroom” makes me believe that there’s still an obvious attraction to women. But, considering I don’t know Mel B (unfortunately) and am not Mel B, I can’t speak for her.
*stank eye and gas face galore*
wait if anyone was on my radar as gay it was sporty spice, stereotypical maybe, but she pinged for me. Ginger spice also made me go hmmmmm. Any way, I didnt know that there were rumblings about mel b.
I had no idea that she had been in two separate relationships with women that spanned a few years. You would have thought that would have been big news. Maybe it was in the UK, IDK. Any brits wanna jump in here? It definitely wasn’t in the states.
I’m Irish, not British, but we get all the same media and I never heard a thing about her being interested in women til now.
Yeah, I’ve never heard anything about this until now either!
I never heard anything either!
i don’t know how, but i had been under the impression that mel b was bisexual for at least ten years. she’s actually in one of our first galleries ever from 2009 that i made of lesbian & bisexual women. and i live in the US.
also ginger pings hard
DID ANYONE EVER HAVE THE PS1 VIDEO GAME!?!
It was silly but I always picked Scary and Posh Spice but Ginger had a kick ass *special* move where she would cup her boobs from the sides.
I was young and it made me feel things that my body/mind was not ready for.
Now I’m ready.
READY FOR WHAT?
OH MY GOD, I know the one you mean but I can’t remember what it was called.
When 2 becomes 1.
I think the important takeaway is that “I have a new tongue piercing and I want to try it out” is a viable method for getting the Spice Girls to make out with you.
i bet she says “tongue ring” in the cutest way. she always had the best accent.
Wow, today really made me rethink my childhood. First I learned that less time separates humans from the T-rex than the T. rex from the Stegosaurus . . . THE LAND BEFORE TIME IS A LIE. Spike would not have been hanging with that crew.
And now this?! Clearly it is bedtime.
I knew she was always my favorite for a reason.
I’m still chuckling and shaking my head that we all were focused on the wrong Spice Girl to come out as a lady-lover.
Not to change the subject, but is anyone else heartbroken by the Cottonelle TV ads with Ginger Spice? Her name is never mentioned, but I’m pretty sure it’s her. I mean, good for her if she’s happy, but I think a Spice Girl should be doing better than toilet paper ads!
Let us not forget Mel C though and the most fabulously lesbian music video of all time: http://youtu.be/klCXBkn0VGs
wrote a HILARIOUS comment. hit reset instead of submit. mel b has that effect on me. and yes, her “snogging the other girls w her tongue ring” was mentioned on Pop Up Video YEARS ago. like, 1999.