13 April 2016 – Hollywood, California – Mel B, Melanie Brown. “Mother’s Day” World Premiere held at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX. Photo Credit: Sammi/AdMedia Spice Girl member Mel B said she did six lines of cocaine a day when she was a judge on the reality show ‘The X Factor’ in her new memoir, ‘Brutally Honest,’ according to an international publication. According to The Sun newspaper, which has been serialising extracts, the 43-year-old singer and TV star says that she took the drug to cope with the difficulties of living with her ex-husband Stephen Belafonte. The couple were married for ten years before they finalised their divorce last August. Mel B – real name, Melanie Brown – also recalls the details of a 200-pill suicide attempt in her book, which is due to be published on November 27. “I was a sad, pathetic person, ” the Spice Girl declares. “I was out of control.” The singer ingested two lines of cocaine as soon as she woke to deal with the challenges of filming The X Factor during the day ahead. “Then I would pray, ‘God, I’m sorry for taking cocaine, but please God help me get through this day.” “It numbed my pain. It lifted me up enough to be ready to fire on all cylinders and forget about everything but the show.” “I was so low that two weeks into filming The X Factor I’d started using cocaine to get me through the run of the show. “To get me through living with Stephen, which felt like neurotic claustrophobia. “On so many levels I felt myself sinking. I had a routine. I was ashamed of what I was doing, but I felt I had to have it.” Published in Daily Times, November 19th 2018.