Overview

'Utterly absorbing and deeply affecting' – The Guardian As a Spice Girl, TV talent show judge and Broadway star, Mel B a.k.a Scary Spice, has been a global icon since her twenties. But behind the glittering façade of fame, the struggles and pain of this working-class, mixed-race girl from Leeds are laid bare in her critically acclaimed best-selling memoir, Brutally Honest. With deep personal insight, remarkable frankness and trademark Yorkshire humour, the book tells how she went from Girl Power to girl powerless during her ten-year emotionally abusive marriage. Tracing a path through the key moments in her life, she reflects on her childhood, rise to fame and her chilling downward spiral before she finally broke free. In this expanded edition, written with Louise Gannon, Mel brings her story up to date. With her trademark honesty, she tells the unfiltered story of piecing herself back together, dealing with trauma and new heartbreak whilst becoming a champion for survivors of abuse, performing once more with the Spice Girls and receiving her MBE from Prince William.

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9781837831562

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Reviews

An unflinching account of how an icon of girl power became utterly powerless in her own life, this brave and important book deserves to be read by fans and non-fans alike. Utterly absorbing and deeply affecting. * The Guardian * This is the most gut wrenching, punch-in-the-stomach honest celebrity autobiography I’ve ever read. Mel B […] takes us to the darkest places behind her Scary Spice persona, educating about the true horror of domestic abuse in the process. * The Sun * If [Melanie] Brown awakens even one reader to the reality of their situation, her legacy will endure long beyond the second Spice Girls reunion. * The Observer * By opening up about the realities of abuse and addiction, Mel B has launched a new, but equally important, version of Girl Power. Brutally Honest will grip you from the start * Grazia * Much like a rolling Netflix series, you find yourself hungrily digesting chapter after chapter of Melanie’s life in one sitting. Some parts are hilarious and relatable; others are just painfully difficult to read. * Gal-Dem * Brutally Honest is a captivating memoir that candidly discusses the chain of abuse that still exists for women in society and what it will take to break it. * OK! Magazine * Brutally Honest is just what it says. Melanie Brown’s account of an abusive relationship – of the once fearless Scary Spice being made to feel so worthless that she believes suicide is the only way out – is gripping, shocking and harrowing. * The Guardian *

You cannot underestimate the awareness this book is raising about coercive control – it is helping us to save lives. -- Farah Nazeer, Chief Executive of Women’s Aid This book is so powerful so real, so strong and so emotional – this is exactly Melanie. -- Geri Horner (née Halliwell) An unflinching account of how an icon of girl power became utterly powerless in her own life, this brave and important book deserves to be read by fans and non-fans alike. Utterly absorbing and deeply affecting. * The Guardian * This is the most gut wrenching, punch-in-the-stomach honest celebrity autobiography I’ve ever read. Mel B […] takes us to the darkest places behind her Scary Spice persona, educating about the true horror of domestic abuse in the process. * The Sun * If [Melanie] Brown awakens even one reader to the reality of their situation, her legacy will endure long beyond the second Spice Girls reunion. * The Observer * By opening up about the realities of abuse and addiction, Mel B has launched a new, but equally important, version of Girl Power. Brutally Honest will grip you from the start * Grazia * Much like a rolling Netflix series, you find yourself hungrily digesting chapter after chapter of Melanie’s life in one sitting. Some parts are hilarious and relatable; others are just painfully difficult to read. * Gal-Dem * Brutally Honest is a captivating memoir that candidly discusses the chain of abuse that still exists for women in society and what it will take to break it. * OK! Magazine * Brutally Honest is just what it says. Melanie Brown’s account of an abusive relationship – of the once fearless Scary Spice being made to feel so worthless that she believes suicide is the only way out – is gripping, shocking and harrowing. * The Guardian *

Author Information

Melanie Brown’s career began with the pop phenomenon, Spice Girls. They became the biggest girl band in music history, selling more than 85 million records worldwide and becoming cultural icons around the globe. Their tours grossed $800 million dollars and their recent Spice World reunion was the fastest selling tour of 2019. Since 2000, Melanie has become one of the most recognised faces on television, fronting shows from Lip Sync UK, The X Factor in Britain and Australia, Dancing with the Stars in Australia and America’s Got Talent. She has also starred in a string of movies most recently Idris Elba’s A New Diva Christmas Carol. She has appeared on Broadway in Rent and as Roxie Hart in Chicago. A judge on Australia’s Masked Singer, she remains one of the most popular stars in Britain and America and since the release of Brutally Honest in 2018 has been Patron of Woman’s Aid, speaking in Westminster, Number 10 and at party conferences on behalf of survivors. In Queen Elizabeth's final honours in 2022, she was awarded an MBE for services to vulnerable women. She lives with her family in Leeds. Award winning journalist and author, Louise Gannon, worked in Fleet Street for 25 years and has interviewed every major celebrity from Madonna to Mick Jagger to Britney Spears. She first met Melanie as a wannabe pop star in 1995. She lives in London.

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