Mel B 'working through things' in rehab

Mel B has checked into rehab. Photo / AP

Mel B is "a fighter" and is "working through things" in rehab.

The Spice Girls star has checked into rehab after reaching "crisis point" after being diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) but she is doing well, according to her pal Rusty Updegraff.

Her friend told People magazine: "Yes, she has some issues she's working on, but it's emotional issues stemming from everything she's been through with her divorce. It's not drugs or sex addiction at all.

"She's in therapy just like any woman who's been through the kind of marriage and divorce she has. But she's fine, and she's working through things. She's a great mother and a great friend. She just has PTSD. She's been in treatment for it for the past 4 to 5 weeks. Yes, she has some stress, but she's getting help and she's a fighter - she's Scary Spice."

Meanwhile, Mel previously opened up how she had been drinking heavily following a turbulent period in her life, including the death of her father Martin Brown and her split and subsequent messy divorce battle from Stephen Belafonte, who she accused of being abusive.

She said: "The past six months have been incredibly difficult for me.I've been working with a writer on my book, 'Brutally Honest', and it has been unbelievably traumatic reliving an emotionally abusive relationship and confronting so many massive issues in my life from the death of my dad to my relationship with men. I've also been through more than a year of court battles which have left me financially battered and at the mercy of the legal system, which is completely weighted against emotionally abused women because it's very hard to prove how someone took away all your self-respect and self-worth. I am being very honest in my book about drinking to numb my pain but that is just a way a lot of people mask what is really going on. Sometimes it is too hard to cope with all the emotions I feel. But the problem has never been about sex or alcohol - it is underneath all that ... I am fully aware I am at a crisis point.

"No-one knows myself better than I do. But I am dealing with it. I love my three girls more than life itself.I have also made the decision to go into a proper therapy programme in the next few weeks, but it has to be in the UK because I am very, very British and I know that will work best for me."