Mel B spent her birthday with her estranged mother.
The former Spice Girls singer hadn’t spoke to Andrea Brown for several years as she didn’t approve of her marriage to Stephen Belafonte, but shortly before she split from the producer in March, it emerged they had reconnected.
And in her first social media post since splitting from her husband, Mel took to Instagram on her 42nd birthday on Monday (29.05.17) to share a picture of herself and Andrea, along with her three children, Phoenix, 18, Angel, 10, and five-year-old Madison, and pay tribute to her late father Martin, who died of cancer in March.
On the Instagram post, the singer wrote: "My eyes are closed but I see and feel you dad, you are missed every second of every day me my mum my 3 daughters today celebrated you for being the most important man in our lives #restinpeacedaddy (sic)"
Mel and Andrea’s closeness this week is in stark contrast to when the ‘Mama’ singer turned 40 two years ago, as her mother shared a number of old photos on Twitter in a bid to reach out to her daughter.
Alongside a photograph of a teenage Mel doing the splits in a pair of tiny denim hotpants, Andrea wrote: "@officialmelB 40 today hope ur birthday is as special as u r 2 me luv and miss u FOREVER X. (sic)"
And she also posted a picture of herself applying makeup on a young Mel alongside the caption: "Today I have a 40 old child loved and missed so badly!! Official 1st makeup artist ME!! (sic)"
Mel’s younger sister Danielle joined her mother in attempting to put their differences aside.
After retweeting Andrea’s message, she wrote: "Happy 40th Birthday to my one and only big sis @OfficialMelB (sic)"
After Mel and Stephen split, the ‘America’s Got Talent’ judge admitted she was relieved.
She tweeted: "For the first time in almost 10 years I can go to bed knowing my daughter and the kids are safe, no more abuse for any of us (sic)"