Mel B is the latest female celebrity to reject the feminist label while revealing that she has no clue what the word means. See also: Salma Hayek, Shailene Woodley, Lana del Rey, Meghan Trainor, Evangeline Lily, Kaley Cuoco, et. al. All of those interviews happened last year and were widely ridiculed. It’s become standard to ask female celebrities about feminism so you would think that they would spend 10 minutes trying to figure out what it means. (And many do, I just cited the worst ones.) Not Mel B, she claims she’s not a feminist, she just believes in “girl power” and supporting other women. *headdesk*

In an interview with the London Times, the X Factor judge opened up about her stance on feminism and whether or not she would consider herself one. Spoiler alert: she doesn’t.

“I wouldn’t call myself a feminist,” she told the publication.

Although that’s a surprising enough answer in it of itself, what’s more surprising is her explanation.

“I try to live by the girl-power motto. It’s about believing in yourself, no matter how bad a day you’re having, and lending your support to other women,” she added. “It’s empowering to have that camaraderie with other women.”

Isn’t that what feminism is?! How you confuse us, Mel!

[From E! Online]

Feminism is about equality for women, it’s not about lording it over men and it’s not about acting like a man. I hate to even bring that up, but several celebrities have made statements confusing feminism with being macho or rejecting men. I don’t have to explain this to 99% percent of you, because you know this. This is something everyone should know, and yet somehow people either don’t understand or the word has become tainted. Technically I shouldn’t care that Mel B is ignorant but when celebrities continue to spread these misconceptions they need to be called out.

Moving on to Mel’s personal life, she’s still with her maybe-abusive husband, Stephen Belafonte, following speculation that they had split around the holidays. She has an interview in the latest issue of Hello! in which she won’t discuss the medical crisis (rumored to have been abuse from her husband, which both of them have denied) that caused her to miss a taping of The X Factor UK last December. Mel won’t address any of that or whether there are problems in her marriage. Hello! reports “this isn’t an issue Mel wants to discuss. As far as she is concerned, the only problem with her marriage is the fact people can’t accept that there is no problem.” Mel later says “Everyone goes through good and bad times and that’s what family life is about. Stephen treats me like a queen and I treat him like a king – but we’re not like that all the time.” Not very convincing, but she doesn’t quite have a way with words, does she?

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