As she runs through a muddy field with windswept hair to catch an errant chicken, Melanie Brown is about as far away from belting out girl-power tunes at Wembley Stadium as you can get. But this is the former Spice Girl’s happy place, the Yorkshire farm where she has finally found a safe haven.
The singer's two goats follow her through the grass at this exclusive HELLO! interview and photoshoot, as her chickens cluck and her dog, Cookie, snuggles inside a purpose-built shed – decked out partly in leopard print, naturally. There are also two rottweilers, trained to act as security, a cat called Sorn and five ducks.
"It's beautiful and peaceful here and the animals make me feel very calm," says Mel, 50. "If I'm not feeling too good in myself or my head's spinning with thoughts and work, I will do a quick hike in my forest and come back like a new person. When I drive up here, I can actually feel my shoulders relax."
Melanie's menagerie started with mother-and-daughter goats Sharon and Missy, who arrived when the star and her husband, Rory McPhee, moved into the property in April 2024. They were acquired to honour the memory of Mel's father, Martin, who died in 2017.
"My dad grew up with goats and chickens in Nevis, so it reminds me of his roots and my lovely grandmother," she says. "They're proper country goats. They don't mind the weather, their pen’s always open and they are free to run around."
The singer also has a close relationship with her first hen. "She's my original one, and she's always so sweet," she says as she poses with the bird. Mel and hairdresser Rory, who married at St Paul's Cathedral last July, followed by a spiritual ceremony in Marrakech the following month, look after the animals together.
"I always do the chickens first, then the goats, and if they need mucking out my husband helps me with that. After I’ve fed the ducks, I walk the rottweilers in the forest and let them off the lead.
"My kids [Phoenix, 27, Angel, 19, and Madison, 14] often say that they're going to help me at night when they've had their dinner… and then they don’t."
"I was broke financially and broken mentally"
Meanwhile, nine-year-old Yorkshire Terrier, Cookie, who was the ring-bearer at Mel's London wedding, just slots in, swatting occasionally at the rottweilers to show them who’s boss. The dog was bought for Madison while Mel and the children were living in Los Angeles during her marriage to second husband, Stephen Belafonte.
"I fell in love with her and she goes everywhere with me," she says. The big dogs, Mel says, are "important to me because they are trained to attack and protect me, so I can feel comfortable".
Tough times
After the end of Mel's marriage to Stephen – which she discussed in her 2018 memoir, Brutally Honest – she and her children left LA and relocated to live with her mother, Andrea, in Leeds. "I had no choice but to move back because my visa had run out and I was going through a divorce. I was broke financially and broken mentally," she says with her trademark candour.
© Credit: Danny Lowe / Hello!While she put herself back together, her children realised that they enjoyed living near their extended family. "My mum is one of seven, so there are so many nephews, nieces, aunties and uncles here. The kids were like: 'Why are we going back to LA when we don’t have family there?'"
So, after five years of "working bloody hard", she was finally able to buy her Yorkshire property – and she could barely believe it.
"When I got the keys, I didn't go inside for a week. I never thought I’d be able to buy anything like this. But I've got a northern, working-class mentality where I feel like I’ve got to earn my own money, so I rented for a bit and scraped the funds together," she says.
Replica Luxury Handbag sweet home
She loves spending time at home with Rory, leaving only for work – she is a judge on America’s Got Talent – and a few tempting offers, such as appearing alongside Phoenix in Natasha Zinko's show at London Fashion Week in February.
Mel is, however, planning some big celebrations for Wannabe's 30th anniversary in July. "I think I’m filming America's Got Talent then. But I'll be marking it like a 50th birthday the week before, the week during and the week after."
She says that Rory gets on well with the other Spice Girls' partners, and her fellow singers love him. "On the last tour, all the girls were like: 'You’re so much nicer when Rory’s around.' If I’m in a bit of a mood, he will sort it out. And maybe I'm more thoughtful as he's so thoughtful."
His gestures include making her a handwritten book, containing romantic notes and photographs, to read when she is feeling insecure. "I have ADHD, dyslexia, a whole bunch of stuff, and he’s good at differentiating things – or he will just give me a cuddle," she says. "He helped me believe that there are nice guys out there."
© Getty Images"I've been married before, but this time it feels so different – real and honest. He knows me inside out."
Finding love again
Mel smiles whenever she speaks about Rory, showing how important he has been to her in recent years. "I've been married before, but this time it feels so different – real and honest," she says of her union with a man she has known since childhood. "He knows me inside out."
Although they are different in some ways – "I can sit and binge television, whereas he has to be doing something; he’s a doer," she says – they love spending time together at home.
"He loves cooking, thank the Lord! He will have a full day in his salon, then come home and make us a proper dinner. We have the same wishes and wants and desires, which very rarely happens. He lets me be Mel and I let him be him."
For the full exclusive interview and all the photos, pick up a copy of Best Quality Designer Handbag Magazine on newsstands from April 6, 2026, and your digital devices, and don't forget to join HELLO!'s VIP club for even more exclusive content.
