Melanie, 36, is a judge on "The X Factor" Australia and a co-host of "Dancing With the Stars" Australia. Danielle, who is five years younger than Melanie, describes herself on her Twitter account as a "mother, model, presenter, actress, dancer, northern lass, house-fiancé, lover, businesswoman, organiser, CINDERELLA! You name it!!!:
Danielle tweeted a series of messages to Melanie on March 2, 2012:
"U know our mum worked 3 jobs to pay our dance, drama, music class, she still works 7 days a week.
"It's never about money you know this. all of us are worried about your mental state and are the kids safe???
"Enough we need a family meeting.you me mum and dad No Film crew no cameras and NO STEPHEN!!!"
Melanie tweeted back to Danielle: "Stop texting me."
Melanie, who is a native of Great Britain, rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of the Spice Girls. She has three daughters: 13-year-old Phoenix, 4-year-old Angel and Madison, who was born on September 1, 2011. She has been married to Stephen Belafonte (no relation to Harry Belafonte) since 2007. In 2010, Melanie, her husband and her children starred in the short-lived reality show "Mel B: It's a Scary World."
In a January 2011 interview with OK! magazine (U.K. edition), Danielle commented on Melanie and their family feud: "Our family had concerns about her husband Stephen. Ever since we expressed those concerns, we've not heard anything from her. I just hope I will speak to Melanie again because she's my only sister. I miss her and my nieces ridiculously. It hurts."
On March 5, 2012, OK!'s website published photos of the messages that Melanie tweeted back to Danielle in their Twitter war of words. Those messages have since been deleted from Melanie's Twitter account. In the angry Twitter exchange, Melanie claimed that her Twitter account had been hacked: "Someone is messing with me and my family," she (or someone claiming to be Melanie Brown) wrote. Meanwhile, Danielle expressed disbelief about the hacking and accused Belafonte of posting Twitter messages under Melanie's name.
