On Friday we reported that Mel B’s former nanny, a 25 year-old German national named Lorraine Gilles, was suing her for defamation. This was in response to Mel’s claims in legal documents that Lorraine had conspired with Mel’s abusive husband, Stephen Belafonte, to blackmail Mel over tapes of sexual encounters of Mel with her husband and other women. Mel obtained temporary restraining orders against both Stephen and Lorraine. She stated that Stephen had impregnated Lorraine in early 2014, that she had tried to fire Lorraine in 2015, and that Lorraine had mocked her. It all sounded like a typical abusive relationship where the husband tries to bring in another party to alienate his wife, it’s called triangulation and it’s a common abuser tactic. The way that Lorraine describes her relationship with Mel in her lawsuit paints an entirely different picture of Mel’s involvement though. Lorraine claims that she was Mel’s sexual partner first, when she was just 18. According to Lorraine she participated in group sex with Mel and her husband, only to be asked to come back and be a nanny to their children, during which time she continued a sexual relationship with both of them. Her pregnancy was from a boyfriend, not Stephen, according to Lorraine. I’m relying on secondary reports of the lawsuit as I can’t find the PDF online. E! Online seems to have the best overview:

Lorraine, a German national, says that weeks after she moved to Los Angeles, she met Mel and Stephen and visited them in their home, during which they “drank and eventually had consensual group sex” upon the singer’s request.

The court papers also state that the nanny claims that afterwards, Mel would contact her from time to time to “come over for drinks, sex and/or to help watch over her children” and that the two women “developed a friendship and sexual relationship with one another that was separate and apart” from the singer’s relationship with Stephen.

In her filing, Lorraine says that months later, she returned home to Germany and was then contacted by the couple and offered a formal job as a nanny. She accepted and her “sexual and employment relationship” with Mel “continued for approximately seven years.”

According to her lawsuit against Mel, Lorraine says she and Stephen also had sex, but only when the singer invited him to join them. She claims Mel would often film the encounters. Lorraine said she is “personally aware” of several “sex tapes” both Mel and Stephen had recorded that show all three of them “having consensual group sex.” She also said she witnessed the couple “bring different women into their home and engage in group sex” while she looked after their kids.

Lorraine also states in the lawsuit that in 2014, she got pregnant from a one-night stand with a man she met at a bar. She said she had not had sex with the couple in the months leading up to the pregnancy. She said she told Mel about it and that the singer helped her arrange an appointment for an abortion, “advanced the cash” for the procedure and booked a hotel for her to stay in so she could recover in private. She said after she had the abortion, the singer visited her at the hotel with the kids.

Lorraine said she later resumed her nanny job and relationship with Mel. In her lawsuit, the nanny also says that there is “no evidence” that she ever used Mel’s money without her knowledge or consent or that she “conspired” with Stephen “in any way for an illicit motive.” The papers also state that the nanny claims she “is not in possession of any of the alleged sex tapes or compromising materials” as Mel had described and that she was “actually uncomfortable with the making of the sex tapes” and does not want them made public.

In her filing, the nanny says she did open a storage locker at the couple’s request and that their CPA paid for it and that after she was fired in September 2016—four months before Mel said she and Stephen separated—she transferred it to Stephen’s name. The court papers also state that Lorraine was never fired before that date, but rather quit temporarily in late 2014.

In her lawsuit, it is stated that Lorraine believes Mel made her statements “with knowledge of their falsity or with reckless disregard of the truth” because she feared the nanny would testify during the couple’s divorce proceedings. She also says in the filing that two weeks before she filed the papers, Mel gave her a hand-written litter saying she was “grateful” for her services as a nanny.

[From E! Online]

Radar online has the more explicit details if you’re interested, including the statements from the lawsuit that “Brown seduced a naïve and curious 18-year-old foreign exchange student with alcohol, fame and casual sex,” and that Lorraine claims her relationship with Mel was ongoing and that she never had sex with Stephen when Mel wasn’t there.

Narcissists love to pit people against each other, and both Mel and Lorraine could be victims, even if Mel pursued Lorraine first. Mel ended up bruised, battered and psychologically abused and Stephen likely did the same to Lorraine, convincing her that Mel was the problem. In turn Mel and Lorraine ended up hating each other. I don’t know if Mel did the right thing by naming Lorraine, especially since she’s not a public person and this is such a high profile divorce. It’s possible that Mel’s declaration misrepresents what happened for her own ends, but that doesn’t mean that Mel isn’t a victim too. Mel felt wronged by Lorraine, who was also used as pawn by an abuser. Lorraine had an entirely different perspective on this situation because she got caught up in it too and was similarly being used and gaslighted by Stephen. I’m not saying Mel and/or Lorraine are innocent by any means, just that no one wins here.

Bikini photos are from a vacation to Spain in July, 2016. Credit: Pacific Coast News. Airport photos are from September, 2015. Credit: WENN. Mel B is shown out in a white outfit on April 15, 2017. Credit: FameFlynet