Mel B insists Eddie is the dad

Melanie Brown is fighting back against former boyfriend Eddie Murphy's claims that he is not the father of the child she is carrying. "I am obviously upset and distressed at some of the comments made by Eddie Murphy to the media," the Spice Girl alum said in a statement released Thursday. "I have no idea why anybody would want to conduct themselves in this kind of manner about such a personal matter in a such a public way... My main concern is for the well-being of my daughter Phoenix and of course the baby. I was astonished at what Eddie said - there is absolutely no question that Eddie is the father." Murphy was asked by the media on Monday about his relationship with Brown and said he wants a blood test to prove the paternity of unborn child (read story here). Brown says she had no idea her relationship with the SNL star had ended until she listened to voicemails from friends telling her what they had seen on TV. Murphy's new girlfriend told People mag earlier in the week that she had been dating the star for "about a month and a half." "This was extraordinarily brazen what he did," says a friend of Brown. "If he had fallen in love with somebody else, that would have been pretty bad anyway, but to then wheel her out in public for a deliberate photo op, when Melanie's pregnant! That's a rat, frankly."

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