Simon Cowell is poised to rescue crisis-hit Mel B by handing her a TV contract worth almost £2million.
In an exclusive interview with the Sunday People, the X Factor mogul reveals how he will offer the dicorce -battling star another year as a judge on America’s Got Talent.
The Spice Girl , 42, was reported to be facing the axe because lurid details of her marriage to film producer Stephen Belafonte are expected to emerge in court.
But speaking to the Sunday People in Los Angeles, Cowell confirmed the show’s judging line-up will stay the same.
He said: “It’s been amazing with Mel. I’ll be honest she can be a pain but she has a good heart.
With this panel I wouldn’t change anything and I won’t be changing anything.”
Simon’s warm gesture comes after it was claimed Scary Spice has blown her £38million fortune and has only £961 in the bank.
Leeds-born Mel, who looked sensational in a figure-hugging white catsuit after seeing her lawyer in West Hollywood on Friday, is expected to earn £1.8million from a new contract with star-maker Cowell, 57.
Today a source close to Simon said he was determined to support her.
The pal said: “Simon has really been there for Mel and cares about her a lot. He thinks she is very talented and a brilliant judge.
“It’s her natural place to be back on the show next year and he's insistent he gets her back.”
Cowell’s pledge came as astonishing videos emerged of Mel and Belafonte, 42, who she accuses of physical abuse, sexual exploitation and making their nanny pregnant.
One clip is of the couple arguing as Belafonte clutches a packet of white powder, alleged in court documents to be cocaine.
Another shows the pair arguing in front of their six-year-old daughter Madison. Mel was forced to miss a family friend’s funeral in Yorkshire because of her latest divorce court hearing in Los Angeles.
She told her Instagram followers: “I also lost my ‘aunt Kim’ over the weekend in UK to cancer and couldn’t travel to pay my respects as I was in court with my ex-husband.”
But we can reveal how Belafonte, who is barred from going near his wife because of a temporary restraining order, has been baffled by the turn of events in the case. The couple had agreed they would divorce amicably but then Mel claimed she was the victim of “multiple physical beatings”.
She also accused her husband of threatening to destroy her career by releasing a sex tape.
One friend said: “Stephen is so confused and hurt as to why Mel would do this. Throughout their marriage they always said if they were to split they wouldn’t drag the kids into it and they would be civil for the children.
They used to watch a lot of TV and if anything ever came up about divorce they would always agree and say they would never put their kids through any of that.”
During her nine-year marriage to Stephen he had called her family the “cut-off crew”.
Madison is the child of Mel and Stephen while Mel has two more children each with different dads.
Hollywood superstar Eddie Murphy, 56, is the father of her daughter Angel, ten. Her eldest, Phoenix Chi Gulzar, 18, is the child of ex-husband Jimmy Gulzar.
Mel’s dire financial state was exposed in court earlier this year as it was claimed she racked up tax debts after making “improvident” financial decisions.
The former couple were said to “never have money at the end of the year to pay their taxes”.
Grace Jamra, representing Stephen, said that while the couple led an extravagant and affluent lifestyle, Mel had wiped out all her Spice Girls cash, nearly £40million “if not more”.
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