Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Brutally Honest cover art

Brutally Honest

By: Melanie Brown,Louise Gannon
Narrated by: Melanie Brown,Phoenix Chi Gulzar Brown,Andrea Brown,Zaraah Abrahams,Bruce Lester Johnson
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.00

Buy Now for £16.00

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

This book will help to change lives.

- Katie Ghose, Chief Executive of Women's Aid

This book is so powerful, so real, so strong and so emotional – this is exactly Melanie.

- Geri Horner (nee Halliwell)

Listeners also enjoyed...

A Bit of Me cover art
Kerry Katona: Whole Again cover art
The Last Word cover art
My Thoughts Exactly cover art
My Account cover art
Ten cover art
Lessons I've Learned cover art
Love and Fury cover art
Unbreakable cover art
Counting the Cost cover art
Open Book cover art
I'm Glad My Mom Died cover art
Try Hard cover art
Be Kind cover art
Life and Laughing cover art
You've Got This cover art

Summary

Please note that this audiobook contains explicit language and content some listeners may find distressing.

The memoir from the real woman behind the leopard print, for real women everywhere.

As one-fifth of the iconic Spice Girls and judge on X Factor and America's Got Talent, Melanie Brown, aka Scary Spice, has been an international star since the age of 19. And yet there are sides of Mel that no one has ever seen or really known.

Brutally Honest is an exposé of the struggles and acute pain that lay behind the glamour and success. With deep personal insight, remarkable frankness and Melanie’s trademark Yorkshire humour, this audiobook removes the mask of fame and reveals the mother, wife and daughter behind the Spice Girl everyone thinks they know.

The audiobook edition features narration from Melanie, her daughter, Phoenix, and her mother, Andrea.

©2018 Melanie Brown and Louise Gannon (P)2018 Audible, Ltd

Mel B casting her audiobook, Brutally Honest

Mel meets three actresses, all auditioning for the opportunity to read her audiobook
0:00

More from the same

What listeners say about Brutally Honest

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,716
  • 4 Stars
    302
  • 3 Stars
    113
  • 2 Stars
    42
  • 1 Stars
    35
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,659
  • 4 Stars
    205
  • 3 Stars
    71
  • 2 Stars
    17
  • 1 Stars
    17
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,529
  • 4 Stars
    266
  • 3 Stars
    85
  • 2 Stars
    48
  • 1 Stars
    30

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Mel B is indeed Brutally Honest

Melanie doesn't hold back in this book, she is indeed Brutally Honest, she tells you about everything, from the drinking, to the drugs and more.

Her relationships with her friends, family and lovers are also included, including lots of old stories about how she got into the Spice Girls, and also about the man that she calls the love of her life, Eddie Murphy.

She also tells the story about her 10 year marriage to Stephen Belafonte (pronounced Steffan, cause he's a d**k like that!)

At the beginning the relationship was good, but it was quick, they were married really early on in the relationship, and he started to more than a healthy interest in her work/friends/money etc. So much so, in the end he had full control of everything!

After a short time the abuse started, but as she explains it wasn't hitting straight away, it was verbal and emotional abuse, and it was done so subtly that she didn't even realise what it was.

It’s hard to see when you are in it (although it becomes horribly, blindingly obvious when you are out of it) that the emotional upset you feel with your partner doesn’t just exist between the two of you or in your bedroom. It is an energy that fills a house.

She was Gaslighted, mentally and emotionally abused, which finally led to physical abuse.

When you are reading the book, you find that it does jump around a bit, from past to present, Melanie admits to having ADHD which is why I think it does this, it doesn't seem to be in any sort of chronological order, it's like she thinks of something and has to get it down before she forgets it, and I loved that about it.

For 10 years this woman was beaten down to feeling like nothing, and even at one point tried to kill herself, she was self medicating with drink and drugs to stop these feelings, and for the whole time she felt like, and was told it was her fault- THIS IS ABUSE

Melanie is an incredibly brave woman to open up her life to show everyone, and I applaud her for this, it shows that abuse does not discriminate, old, young, rich or poor, it can effect anyone.

Mel tells her story, warts and all, and explains how, to those people that say "Why didn't you just leave?" that it isn't that easy, some people don't even realise that they are being abused.

There are 15 signs on the cover of the book, these are all RED FLAGS, it is incredibly important that people recognise these signs, and maybe, just maybe it will help, even just one person.

I think she is one HELL of a brave lady for doing this, and I hope that her and her family are super happy now 😘

🎧🎧 - Narration for the audio book was by Zaraah Abrahams who was fabulous, she sounds very much like Mel B when she speaks, so by the time it was halfway through, I had forgotten it was a different person narrating it.

15 Signs of Domestic Abuse:

1. Tells you that you can never do anything right.
2. Shows extreme jealousy of your friends and time spent away.
3. Keeps you or discourages you from seeing friends or family members.
4. Insults, demeans or shames you with put-downs.
5. Controls every penny spent in the household.
6. Takes your money or refuses to give you money for necessary expenses.
7. Looks at you or acts in ways that scare you.
8. Controls who you see, where you go, or what you do.
9. Prevents you from making your own decisions.
10. Tells you that you are a bad parent or threatens to harm or take away your children.
11. Prevents you from working or attending school.
12. Destroys your property or threatens to hurt or kill your pets.
13. Intimidates you with guns, knives or other weapons.
14. Pressures you to have s*x when you don't want to or do things sexually you're not comfortable with.
15. Pressures you to use drugs or alcohol.

If this is you, then don't be afraid to talk to someone about it, you are not alone, it is NOT YOUR FAULT, he doesn't have to hit you for it to be abuse #ThisIsNotLove #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou (

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

26 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Heart renching but brilliant book

I felt like she was talking directly to me. This book has given me the strength to start my journey of escaping from my coercive & abusive husband. Thank you

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent book

First of all, Zara Abrahams has done an AMAZING job narrating!

This is soooo honest, no stone is left unturned, I have never read/ listened to a celebrity autobiography that goes this in depth in to the subject’s private life. I am so pleased Mel and family are safe/ happy now!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

It lives up to the hype!

A true page-turner and even more captivating in the audio form! Well done Audible on this great production!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

This sets a benchmark for celebrity autobiographies. We want to know the real story not a list of accomplishments. Sorry but anything less than Brutally Honest is boring and not worth paying for. A fantastic listen and thank you to Mel B and Audible for this great addition to my library.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Unbelievably proud of you Mel B

Literally gobsmacked at your story so sad so frustrating so angry every emotion felt listening to your story but ultimately so so proud of you well done. Amazing story so well told every girl needs to read this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fab

A true read /listen
It is brutally honest
Nothing else to say
It’s a 10 from me

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

waste of credit

Truly awful book to listen to, not written well at all and her story isn't put across well, it comes across as whiney,poor me and pity me when it was really suppose to show her life and help stop abuse happen to someone else.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Quite entertaining but she’s irritating !

This book is quite entertaining , You have to admire her success and story but the negative relationships are all from such poor decisions , naivety and impulsiveness . How she has relationships with these nasty losers is beyond belief. You feel like you want to shake her into sense . She contradicts herself also and tries to blame situations on others which often have resulted from her lack of communication stubbornness and seeking unrealistic perfection. Interesting though

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Brilliant.... perfect Title!

Really opens your eyes that super stars and the famous, also get abused, gas lighted, made to feel less than, useless and worthless,
Brilliantly written,
An honest truthful book of a woman’s self worth being destroyed by a leach and narcissist, I applaud you Melanie Brown, for helping other’s by telling your story,

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful