Sharon Osbourne shows support for Mel B

Sharon Osbourne has come out in support of Mel B in the wake of her claims of abuse from ex-husband Stephen Belafonte.

Speaking on US chat show, The Talk, Sharon said: "It was everywhere and especially three years ago the final two days of the X Factor.

"She didn’t make the first day because she was in hospital and it was reported in all the papers that said allegedly she’d been beaten by her husband so they said it."

She also recalled what the former Spice Girl looked like when she came back to work.

"She came back for the final day and she had a black eye and bruising everywhere but she made the final."

This has been brewing and people talking for a very long time."

It's been reported that Mel's lawyers got a restraining order on Monday 3rd April, ordering Stephen to leave the family home and stay away from Mel and her three children.

According to TMZ, in her declaration Mel recounted a number of stories detailing the alleged abuse.

She claimed that after the Dancing with the Stars finale in November 2007, Stephen 'placed both of his hands around her neck, began choking her and slammed her down onto the hardwood floors.' She said: "[He would] beat me down to let me know he was in charge."

According to the site, Mel also apparently alleged Stephen 'flew into a jealous rage, punched her with a closed fist in the face, splitting her lip' when she was due to film a segment with Usher for The X Factor in 2012.

The singer also claims that Stephen got their nanny, Lorraine Giles, pregnant and even wanted "all three of [them] to live together," before eventually demanding the nanny got an abortion.

Lorraine's sister, Jacquelyn Baartz has now denied this claim insisting Lorraine was never sexually involved with Stephen nor was she pregnant by him. She told the Mail Online:

"My sister and I are very, very close and I would have known about this, believe me.I don't know where this is coming from. She worked for the family for seven years and had nothing but positive experiences."

Among other claims, Mel B also allegedly revealed Stephen forced her to "participate in sexual intercourse with him and random women" and threatened to release sex tapes to ruin her career if she refused.

TMZ also reports that in 2014 "she was so overcome with 'emotional and physical exhaustion' she took an entire bottle of Aspirin." It is claimed Stephen blocked her from calling 999 and locked her in the bedroom, with Mel recounting that he was "telling me to 'die, bitch!"

Stephen has denied all the allegations mulitple times, saying that "someone's set me up to look like a bad guy." His lawyers have descrived the accusations as "outrageous and unfounded".