Why Victoria Beckham and Geri Halliwell Missed Mel B’s 50th Birthday

Mel B celebrated her 50th with an epic party in Leeds on Saturday night, where she was surrounded by her friends and family.

But there were two notable absences as Geri Halliwell-Horner and Victoria Beckham were nowhere in sight as their Spice Girls bandmate hit the dancefloor.

The former X Factor judge pulled out all the stops for her big night as she joined her partner Rory McPhee and her children Angel, 18, and Phoenix, 26, in Leeds for the glamorous evening.

Also marking the milestone with Mel were her bandmates Mel C and Emma Bunton, who matched Scary’s leopard print theme.

Posh and Ginger’s absences were especially conspicuous, considering the whole band reunited for Victoria’s 50th celebrations a year ago. 

Insiders have revealed to The Sun that whilst fashion designer Victoria had ‘a work commitment she couldn’t get out of’, it is said that Geri didn’t give a reason for turning down the invite.

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Mel B celebrated her 50th with an epic party in Leeds on Saturday night, where she was surrounded by her friends and family and Spice Girls bandmates Mel C and Emma Bunton 

But there were two notable absences as Geri Halliwell-Horner and Victoria Beckham were nowhere in sight 

Mel B and Geri have a fractious relationship, with a row said to have occured at Victoria’s 50th last Spring.   

The star-studded soiree saw all five of the Spice Girls come together to party but it was claimed Mel and Geri’s greeting was tense.

Despite having posed for a smiley snap with Victoria, Mel C and Emma Bunton, The Sun claimed Mel and Geri were feeling tense.

Prior to the reunion, Mel B claimed in an interview that Geri has lied about her age for years.

Despite travelling the world together in the band’s heyday, Scary Spice claimed Geri always kept her passport close to her chest so she ‘still doesn’t know’ how old she is.

After the interview the pair were said to have kept a distance from each other at Victoria’s party – before Mel reportedly tried to offer and olive branch.

A source told the publication: ‘Mel tried to smooth things over with Geri at the party but it didn’t go as planned. She was laughing it all off but Geri didn’t seem interested in hearing what she had to say and wandered off.

‘When it came to taking their group picture, Geri kept as far away from Mel as possible which was awkward to watch.

Insiders have revealed that whilst fashion designer Victoria had ‘a work commitment she couldn’t get out of’, Geri didn’t give a reason for turning down the invite (pictured together in 1997)

‘Geri wanted to be there to celebrate and have a good laugh with everyone, not talk to Mel about the embarrassing things she’s said about her.’ 

Mel make fresh jibes at her former friend by wishing her a ‘Happy 75th Birthday’ in August, seemingly a reference to her previous jibes that Geri had lied about her age in the past.

Insiders said last summer that there have been many more digs and jibes behind the scenes which have infuriated Geri.

The source added: ‘They’ve always had a tricky relationship but this has got very messy now and nobody has been able to smooth things over between them – so it’s all off again.’

Another fall out reportedly occurred after Mel B made the explosive claims she had sex with Geri during the height of their fame in the 90s, putting their friendship under strain.

Mel B and Geri have a fractious relationship. Mel wished Geri her a ‘Happy 75th Birthday’ in August, seemingly a reference to her previous jibes that Geri had lied about her age

The openly bisexual singer made the shock claim while filming for Piers Morgan’s Life Stories in 2019, cheekily telling the broadcaster Geri had ‘great boobs’ and adding: ‘It just happened and we just giggled at it and that was it.’

However, the saucy claims of their night of passion reportedly caused great upset, with sources suggesting Mel made a frantic call to Geri, who has denied that the fling ever took place.

She told Mail On Sunday’s Event magazine: ‘I texted her on the night I did the Piers Morgan show and explained what he’d said and how I’d answered and she was fine with it.

‘The problem was it then got hyped up into a much bigger story, and it didn’t help that we were just about to begin rehearsals [for reunion tour]’.

Marking the milestone with Mel were her bandmates Mel C and Emma Bunton, who matched Scary’s leopard print theme 

‘It was awkward. We hadn’t been back in the situation of being together every single day, being on stage, rehearsing, getting ourselves back into Spice Girls mode, and then all the headlines about our relationship were thrown into the mix, which was pretty bad timing.

Months later months later Mel joked during an appearance on Loose Women that Geri ‘still hates her’ following the revelation.

Whilst she wasn’t at Saturday’s party Geri did pay tribute to Mel on her 50th on Thursday.

Sharing a photo of the pair from the nineties, Geri wrote: ‘#Happy 50th birthday @officialmelb wishing you a very wonderful year ahead.’