Stephen Belafonte wants to see kids
Stephen Belafonte has made a court bid to see his daughter and step-daughter.
The TV producer has been unable to see five-year-old Madison and 10-year-old Angel because of the restraining order his wife Mel B obtained when she filed for divorce and accused him of abuse last month, but he is seeking the terms be changed so he gets equal access to the kids.
According to documents obtained by TMZ, Stephen says when he last saw the two children, they told him: "Mommy is really mad at you and that’s why she won’t let us come and see you."
The film executive – who hasn’t seen the kids for three weeks – claimed to have received "a series of heart wrenching text messages from Angel," including "I Love You," "Daddy Where are you" followed by a crying emoji, but he was unable to reply to them because of the restraining order.
He also included pictures of himself with the children in order to prove their closeness, and is asserting his rights under Californian law, which gives stepparents visitation allowances.
He insists he has been a "highly involved" parent since Angel – whose biological father is actor Eddie Murphy – was born, and is the only parent who cooks. He also talks of how he plays games, tells stories and cuddles with the children.
In the documents, Stephen claims Angel has never seen Eddie since she was born and had no idea he wasn’t her biological father.
When Mel – who also has 18-year-old daughter Phoenix from her first marriage – filed her court documents last month, she claimed Stephen had deliberately interfered to stop Angel meeting the ‘Nutty Professor’ actor.
The former Spice Girls singer claimed her estranged spouse stole her phone and texted the 56-year-old comedian’s assistant at 4:30am, pretending to be her.
She wrote: "In February 2017, I had a arranged for a meeting between my daughter, Angel, and her biological father to take place in mid-March. Up to this point, they had not had a relationship. Respondent became aware of this meeting and in an effort to ‘derail’ the meet, took my phone without my knowledge or consent and texted Angel’s father’s assistant at 4:30am, impersonating/claiming to be me."
Mel, 41, admitted she never discovered the content of the message, but claimed it led Eddie – who previously disputed whether he was Angel’s father – to cancel his scheduled meeting with his daughter.
