As the Spice Girls celebrate the 30-year anniversary of the audition that first brought them all together (!), Mel B is honoring another big milestone in her life. The singer (real name: Melanie Brown) shared a slideshow of photos on Instagram with a touching caption, revealing that it was 7 years ago when she promised her dad—who died shortly thereafter—that she’d leave her abusive ex.
Brown has been open about the abuse she experienced at the hands of her ex-husband, to whom she was married from 2007 to 2017. Now, she’s looking back on the day she reunited with her estranged father, with her dad giving her “the courage to leave.”