Mel B wants 'multiple partners' to serve different needs

LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 01:  Mel B speaks on stage during "A Brutally Honest Evening With Mel B" in support of Women's Aid at The Savoy Theatre on September 1, 2019 in London, England.  (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Mel B pictured on stage during "A Brutally Honest Evening With Mel B" in support of Women's Aid in September 2019. [Photo: Getty]

Mel B has said she is open to having “multiple partners” at once to serve different needs.

The 44-year-old ‘Spice Girls’ singer, who’s been married twice before, spoke of her ideal relationship situation on her podcast, ‘Truth Flirts’.

“In an ideal world, you'd have this person there for your emotional support, you'd have that person there for your intimacy,” she said during a conversation with reality stars Calum Best and Kaz Crossley.

“I would like to think that there's one person that could encompass everything but two marriages later, three kids later, I'm thinking is there ever that one person that just has everything?”

Mel B have been married twice before, most significantly to Stephen Belafonte from 2007 to 2017. She is, however, currently not in a relationship – and described herself as “single and happy” elsewhere in the podcast.

READ MORE: Polyamorous, bisexual couple say they have the 'best of both worlds'

Best reasoned that it would have to depends on the individuals in question – but agreed this style of relationship was “possible”.

“If people don’t think like that, that’s where you’re going to struggle. If you can find people who are like-minded who are going to go, ‘Oh I’m open to this,’ then I think in our day and age it’s possible.”

WESTWOOD, CA - JUNE 15:  Singer Mel B and husband Stephen Belafonte attend the premiere of IFC Midnight's "Intruder" at Regency Bruin Theater on June 15, 2016 in Westwood, California.  (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images)
Mel B and then-husband Stephen Belafonte pictured in June 2016. [Photo: Getty]

Crossley was less keen on the notion – suggesting you would have to be “emotionless” to do be in this kind of relationship.

While Mel B did not label her theory, it’s often termed polyamory: the idea you can have multiple loves at once.

What is polyamory?

Polyamory, a word made up of poly, the Greek word for “many”, and amor, the Latin word for love, is quite literally a relationship approach which involves intimate, romantic relationships with multiple partners – with everyone consenting.

This differs from infidelity, where a person may hide one or more intimate relationship from their partner. It is also distinctive from swinging, where an otherwise monogamous couple consents to other relationships of a purely sexual natural – often in a group sex context.

READ MORE: Willow Smith, 18, says she is open to having a bisexual, polyamorous relationship

Polyamorists might also form a throuple – a committing, functioning romantic relationship which involves three people rather than two.

US actress Bella Thorne attends the Grand Opening of the Guitar Hotel expansion at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, in Hollywood, Florida, October 24, 2019. (Photo by Zak BENNETT / AFP) (Photo by ZAK BENNETT/AFP via Getty Images)
Actor Bella Thorne, pictured in October 2019, regards herself as polyamorous. [Photo: Getty]

“Romantically and sexually, our relationship identity was most strongly felt as a throuple – although we had our individual connections too,” Inigo Lapwood, a long-time proponent of polyamory, told Yahoo UK late last year.

The alternative relationship style is increasingly recognised among high-profile Gen Z-ers ( characterised as those born between 1995 and 2015), such as the likes of Bella Thorne – who is said to be in a polyamorous throuple herself – and Willow Smith – who said she would be open to the idea of having a bisexual, polyamorous relationship.