Brutally Honest: The Sunday Times Bestseller

Melanie Brown · Louise Gannon

Nov 2018 · Hardie Grant Publishing

About this ebook

'Utterly absorbing and deeply affecting' – The Guardian

As a Spice Girl, TV talent show judge and Broadway star, Mel B a.k.a Scary Spice, has been a global icon since her twenties. But behind the glittering façade of fame, the struggles and pain of this working-class, mixed-race girl from Leeds are laid bare in her critically acclaimed best-selling memoir, Brutally Honest.

With deep personal insight, remarkable frankness and trademark Yorkshire humour, the book tells how she went from Girl Power to girl powerless during her ten-year emotionally abusive marriage. Tracing a path through the key moments in her life, she reflects on her childhood, rise to fame and her chilling downward spiral before she finally broke free.

In this expanded edition, written with Louise Gannon, Mel brings her story up to date. With her trademark honesty, she tells the unfiltered story of piecing herself back together, dealing with trauma and new heartbreak whilst becoming a champion for survivors of abuse, performing once more with the Spice Girls and receiving her MBE from Prince William.

Ratings and reviews

Was disappointed, I felt she never fought. She let herself be controlled, I put a lot of blame on her. I don't condone what that idiot of a husband did. But she really made it easy for him she gave him control. She was aware of everything, she let it happen for too long. Come on now, I learned not to be like her. I thank her for that, nothing more. She made her bed, the ones that suffered was her children and family. She let it happen, she was no better than him. In a lot of ways, she encouraged him.

To go through what she did and still find the strength to fight back amazes me. I was gripped from the start and willing her all the way. Nobody gets things right in life but she is a true inspiration of finding the courage to turn her life around for the better. I admire her more than ever, going through that and then sharing in the hope it will help others. It certainly has and will continue to. I could go on and on. A must read.

She then honestly and bravely bares her soul as she tells us (who actually have no right to be so nosey) how she suffered, crawled and clawed her way back to her well-known Scarey Spice persona...and back to her much loved but pretty traumatised children, and other family members. She's not likely to see this but if she did I'd congratulate her for taking her life back despite hideous obstacles. Set your spirit free, it's the only way to be X

About the author

Melanie Brown’s career began with the pop phenomenon, Spice Girls. They became the biggest girl band in music history, selling more than 85 million records worldwide and becoming cultural icons around the globe. Their tours grossed $800 million dollars and their recent Spice World reunion was the fastest selling tour of 2019.

Since 2000, Melanie has become one of the most recognised faces on television, fronting shows from Lip Sync UK, The X Factor in Britain and Australia, Dancing with the Stars in Australia and America’s Got Talent. She has also starred in a string of movies most recently Idris Elba’s A New Diva Christmas Carol. She has appeared on Broadway in Rent and as Roxie Hart in Chicago. A judge on Australia’s Masked Singer, she remains one of the most popular stars in Britain and America and since the release of Brutally Honest in 2018 has been Patron of Woman’s Aid, speaking at Westminster, 10 Downing Street and at party conferences on behalf of survivors. In Queen Elizabeth's final honours in 2022, she was awarded an MBE for services to vulnerable women. She lives with her family in Leeds.

Louise Gannon is one of the most respected and prolific celebrity interviewers in Britain. Most A-listers – from Mick Jagger to Jack Nicholson and Madonna – have sat down with her. She frequently appears on television to share her unique insight into the celebrity world. During her 25-year career, the award-winning journalist has written for every British newspaper and contributed to magazines including Elle and Grazia, You and The Sunday Times Magazine, as well as US publications such as Vanity Fair.