The former Spice Girl tells SEBASTIAN VAN DER ZWAN why she’s looking forward to bringing up her newborn daughter in Australia.
When Woman’s Day drops by to visit Melanie Brown and her new baby, Madison, at their waterfront apartment in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, the forthright X Factor judge has only been in the country a few hours. She’s just stepped off a 14-hour flight from Los Angeles and has had only a few winks of sleep, thanks to her unsettled infant as well as her energetic four-year-old daughter, Angel.
Despite the taxing journey, which came just nine days after giving birth, the 36-year-old former Spice Girl shows no sign of exhaustion. She happily chats away, all the while cradling, swaddling and burping a sleepy Madison, and admiring her view of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. The daunting task of juggling a newborn and her demanding role on the top-rating TV talent show doesn’t faze Melanie at all.
“I was born to multi-task,” she declares in her trademark frank manner, casting an eye over Woman’s Day exclusive family photos, taken a couple of days earlier at her LA home. Mel’s husband, Stephen Belafonte, is back in California, helping Mel’s eldest daughter Phoenix, 12, and his little girl Giselle, 7, settle in at school. He’ll soon join Mel for three months of family time Down Under, which she is very excited about. It’s clear Ronan Keating, Guy Sebastian and Natalie Bassingthwaighte have a surprise in store if they expect motherhood to have mellowed their famously stroppy fellow X Factor judge.
Congratulations on baby Madison and welcome back to Australia. What was it like flying all that way with a newborn?
Thank you. I’m used to travelling with kids but never a baby this small. It was a long and crazy flight! I wasn’t that poor woman with the screaming child, but Madison was squirmy and fussy the whole time, and she slept for maybe 10 or 15 minutes. I had to keep breastfeeding her and walking her up and down the aisle.
Read the full interview with Mel B in this week’s Woman’s Day on sale September 26, 2011.
