The two-year battle is finally over.
A new report reveals that Spice Girl Mel B has settled a multimillion-dollar defamation suit with former nanny Lorraine Gilles for $2.35 million, reports Britain's Mirror.
In the wake of her 2017 split from husband Stephen Belafonte, Mel B (real name: Melanie Brown) made some wild claims about Lorraine.
She called Lorraine a "prostitute." She claimed in court documents that Stephen impregnated Lorraine, who worked for them for seven years, and used Mel's money to pay for an abortion. Mel also claimed Stephen coerced the nanny to join them in sexual encounters.
Lorraine sued Mel for libel in 2017. In a 128-page libel suit, Lorraine denied Mel's claims, including that she was ever pregnant by Stephen and said that she'd had a much stronger sexual relationship with Mel than with the singer's husband.
According to the Mirror, the settlement means both women can now avoid having to rehash details about their past in open court — and that Mel's famous friends and associates including, claims the Mirror, the other Spice Girls, former "America's Got Talent" colleagues like Simon Cowell and Heidi Klum and more won't have to testify.
The women and their legal teams ultimately decided, a source told the Mirror, that "keeping the matter under wraps was best for all."
Added one of Mel's business associates: "Mel was just happy to clear this mess up once and for all."
The associate explained that "things were said in court papers in the heat of a divorce, which exploded into this lawsuit. But in recent weeks their frost has thawed, with them even meeting in the same room to work out their differences."
After a recent controversy with fellow Ginger Spice Geri Horner — Mel claimed they'd had a secret tryst during their Spice Girls heyday; Geri denied it — "the last thing [Mel] wanted was the rest of the band on the stand being probed all about her sex life."