Melanie Brown Marries

By: Shannon Gossage

Reportedly, Brown and producer Belafonte, married in a secret ceremony in Las Vegas on June 6 at the Special Memory Wedding Chapel. A clerk from the Clark County Marriage Bureau confirmed the marriage on Wednesday. Brown’s rep said in a statement, "Regarding the marriage, Mel and Stephen have known each other for many years and were great friends first. Now they are deeply in love. The two are very happy together."

Brown and Belafonte became close during her pregnancy with daughter Angel Iris Murphy Brown. She told People Magazine in a recent interview, "He was a really good friend and good support to me during my pregnancy. He’s a really sweet guy." Her rep also said, "[They] had wanted to keep the ceremony out of the public eye as they planned a more formal wedding for friends and family later in the year. Melanie and Stephen felt that they were at a good point in their lives and wanted to make a private commitment to each other."

Brown reportedly turned to Belafonte after her relationship with comedian Eddie Murphy crumbled. It was recently determined that Murphy is the biological father of Angel and Brown filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court to legally establish Murphy as the child’s father. Brown and Murphy have been embroiled in a bitter paternity battle since Murphy alluded to the fact that her might not be the baby’s father in an interview last December. Now that it has been determined that he is the father Brown claims that he has not had anything to do with the baby and has not paid child support. Murphy has acknowledged that he is the baby’s father and claims that he has paid child support. This is Brown’s second marriage, she was previously married to Jimmy Guzlar with who she has one daughter, Phoenix Chi.