Heidi Klum got real while discussing how her fellow America’s Got Talent judge Mel B is dealing with her recent custody battle amid allegations of drug abuse.
“It’s definitely not the easiest of things when you have personal things that are dragged through the entire world to see. It is definitely not easy, and I’ve been there right by her side witnessing how hard it is for her,” the 45-year-old supermodel told reporters at the amfAR Gala in Beverly Hills on Thursday, October 18. “It’s not easy to step out all the time when people look at you.”
Klum sees Mel B’s upcoming memoir, Brutally Honest, as an opportunity for the former Spice Girl to set the record straight. “I think it’s good I guess when you want people to know what really happened so you have an opportunity in a book for people to get your side of the story because a lot of the time the tabloids change things. A lot of lies have been told,” the Project Runway alum said. “So I think it’s important that she gets that off her chest and she can tell her side of the story. I can’t wait to read it.”
Us Weekly reported in August that the 43-year-old singer would “continue to get treatment” for post-traumatic stress disorder, with a source noting that it would be outpatient. Mel B revealed she was diagnosed with PTSD after her father passed away in March 2017. The revelation also came after she finalized her divorce from Stephen Belafonte in November of the same year.
A court ordered the author to undergo random drug and alcohol testing in September as part of her custody battle with her ex-husband. “Based on the evidence presented, the court finds that there is a habitual, frequent and continuous use of controlled substances/alcohol by the petitioner [Mel B],” Judge Mark Juhas said in court documents obtained by Us.
The reality star and Belafonte, 43, share 7-year-old daughter Madison. Mel B is also the mother of daughters Phoenix, 19, with ex-husband Jimmy Gulzar and Angel, 11, with ex-boyfriend Eddie Murphy.
“Melanie is willing to do whatever it takes to provide proof to the court that she is a stable person,” her spokesperson, Gary Madatyan told Us in September. “She was ordered to take one test a week, but Melanie wanted to do more, and offered to do it twice a week. Melanie will be drug tested twice a week.”
Madatyan continued: “It’s Melanie’s hope that through this process, she and Stephen will be able to coparent Madison without intrusions from outsiders.”
