I Tried To Stay Out Of It (Part 3)

In one of my very first posts, I wrote this open letter to Eddie Murphy about how I felt about the Scary Spice/baby debacle. Well, after reading a comment written to my fellow blogger over at "Rhymes With Snitch" (if this is true), I must say a lot of things make a lot more sense now (namely Eddie's behavior):

When Scary met Eddie...She was coasting into the gas station on the last fumes of her music money. She wasn't broke? Not technically, but she'd had to part with a substantial portion of her fortune when she divorced Jimmy Gulzar and she knew her high-income earning days were long past. At the time she met Murphy, no one was even thinking about a Spice Girls reunion tour, so Scary was on the hunt. Early on it was all good. Problem was, the "relationship" was over before it really had a chance to take off. Scary's positives: her humor, raunchy sex appeal and British accent were overshadowed by an unfortunate truth: she's as common as dirt: loud, tacky and two steps up from the ghetto. Murphy's kids didn't care for her and after she argued with his mother, Murphy decided Scary was done. No explanation necessary. He simply stopped returning her calls. Within days he began to hear rumors that she was pregnant with his baby. Rumors that Murphy simply couldn't believe because hadn't Scary assured him she was on birth control pills before the handful of times they'd had sex? So, when a Dutch reporter questioned him about the baby, Eddie snapped. But deep down he knew. He knew that Mel B had played him like a violin, just as Elizabeth Hurley had likewise played billionaire Stephen Bing.

Months later DNA test results revealed the truth: Eddie was the father of Mel B's baby and she'd made it clear she had played to win. She stepped up her public relations game by talking to anyone who would listen about how Eddie Murphy had done her wrong; she floated the false rumor that she had decided to name her baby girl Daphne "Fortuna" Bay; and had, incredibly, succeeded in having her labor induced—just minutes after midnight—on Eddie Murphy's birthday. By now no one could doubt Mel's seriousness about getting paid. While Murphy had never seriously considered the idea of marrying her—let alone fathering her baby—Mel spun their brief relationship into an engagement gone bad. She demeaned him in public statements every opportunity she could and began laying a groundwork of suspicion about Murphy's "lifestyle," in addition to alleging that the size of his manhood was insufficient to meet her needs. Enter Mr. not-the-son-of-Harry Belafonte, aka Stephen Stansbury. If it's true that like attracts like, then Scary and Stephen are made for each other. Both are street-smart, complicated players with very checkered-pasts. For Mel B, it's a relationship based as much on her wounded pride as anything else. She'd been very publicly dumped by a movie star, and after she proved capable of tricking him into a serious financial obligation, she was branded used and dangerous goods by anyone noteworthy who otherwise might have considered dating her.

Ironically, Mel's big Eddie payday comes just at the time her music career seems on the upswing. With a concert tour scheduled for the fall, she may once again find herself with a fat bank account. Even considering that, her wealth is still microscopic when compared to her band-mate Posh, or Eddie, for that matter, but Scary's expanded purse will prove more than adequate to keep Mr. Bela-whomever in the picture, at least for the moment. Remembering how badly she has been burned by California's community property laws in the past, it will be interesting to see how she conducts her business and personal affairs in the future. As far as Murphy is concerned, it's a closed chapter. When push came to shove he was able to demand that Scary take-or-leave a (hefty) lump sum support payment to bring the matter to a quick close. He has no intention of building a relationship with baby Angel at this time, since that would mean dealing with her mother. But it's probably a safe bet that the public has not yet heard the last of this story, at least from the standpoint of Mel B. Her ways of fighting for what she wants are straight from the gutter and those tactics have served her very well.

From I.W.: Dayuuum. Even I have to admit that Mel's gotten pretty gangsta, what with Gloria Allred as her attorney and meeting his ex-wife Nicole Murphy at The Ivy (a known paparazzi hang-out), of all places. Eddie better be careful before ol' girl writes a book, I'm just sayin.

update: gangsta spice and her attorney, gloria gangsta, are going to be on larry king tonight: 8/8/07

Oh My Damn! Update #2...Wanda just sent me this link....Mel. B's been married to dude since June!