MEL B ONCE declared, in 1997, that she hated ‘weak men and salads’. Twenty two years later, a very much single Mel is sitting at her home in Leeds, pondering how she feels about men in general. ‘I still hate weak men,’ she laughs. ‘Weak men are so pathetic. For a start, they thrive off a woman’s insecurity, and that’s where a lot of abusive relationships can start: very subtle and coercive. But you shouldn’t confuse vulnerability with weakness. Vulnerability is a beautiful thing. But weakness? Terrible.’
When you’ve had a stage nickname like Scary for 30 years, your public reputation definitely stomps along before you. But the real Mel, behind the scenes, has witnessed herself being broken down by difficult private chapters, particularly during her 10-year marriage to producer…
