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Mel B's longtime makeup artist says he's been in on Mel B's secret for years ... because she's confided in him that Stephen Belafonte caused many of her injuries he covered up with makeup.

We've learned the makeup artist has contacted Mel B's lawyers and offered to write a sworn declaration detailing what he's seen and heard over many years.

He says he frequently had to cover up Mel B's facial and body bruises. He says she would confide in him but lie to others on set about the injuries. And, he says, Belafonte knew Mel B talked to the makeup artist, and he says he was threatened numerous times.

The makeup artist says Belafonte would withhold money from him unless he followed orders ... don't say a word about the injuries.

The makeup artist also says he heard Belafonte being "aggressive and verbally abusive" to Mel B and the children, sometimes calling his wife "disgusting and ugly."

He also says Belafonte was extremely controlling, ordering security to keep tabs on Mel B "beyond a level of safety."

Belafonte has denied any physical abuse.

Taylor Swift's Beverly Hills home just got officially designated as a historic landmark, which means she'll be getting a HUGE tax break, but it comes with one big disadvantage ... she can't alter a thing without jumping through hoops.

Taylor will need to get approval from the Beverly Hills Historic Preservation Committee if she wants to build a recording studio on the property ... or anything else for that matter. A rep for the committee tells us it's a complicated process to get the green light for remodeling projects.

Taylor purchased the Samuel L. Goldwyn estate back in 2015 for $25 mil. It was built in 1934 and housed 2 generations of the Goldwyn family before it finally went on the market.

We're told the property's architecture was the driving force in making it landmark worthy, and any remodeling will be super tricky.

There are various criteria for a house to qualify as a Bev Hills landmark, including architecture, and whether a significant person lived there.

Amber Rose is in danger of losing her bid to own the rights of the Ace of Diamonds name, because her request has been shot down ... for now.

Amber's applied to use the name Ace of Diamonds for "entertainment services in the nature of live dance performances" and "gentlemen's clubs featuring exotic dancing." The application just got rejected because it would cause confusion in the marketplace, since an AOD and Ace of Emeralds already exists.

Kinda funny ... the docs cite past trademark rejections as precedent -- Mister Stain is likely to be confused with Mr. Clean in the cleaning products biz, and Tuna O' the Farm is likely to be confused with Chicken of the Sea in canned foods.

Amber has 6 months to reapply with a more compelling argument. Feels like an uphill climb.

Mel B's explosive domestic violence and extortion allegations against Stephen Belafonte was the big news this week, followed closely by the Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad that was an epic fail. So we gotta ask ...

Sylvester Stallone made a huge point Friday night, shooting down rumors he's out of the "Expendables" game.

We got Sly coming out of Craig's and asked if he's open to doing "Expendables 4" and he jumped on the question, sounding like he's down with it.

We got some other actors from the "Expendables" franchise earlier this week -- including Wesley Snipes and Dolph Lundgren, both of whom said they wouldn't do 4 without Sly.

D.L. Hughley hates Donald Trump and is not afraid to show it as he excoriated the President for the Syrian missile attack.

D.L. was at LAX Friday when he told our photog he thought the bombing, which has been embraced in principle by many on Capitol Hill, says it more about Trump's low poll numbers than a strategic reaction to the chemical attack.

Redfoo thinks MTV's move to make its awards gender neutral is absurd.

We got the LMFAO front man at LAX and he scoffed at the notion there should be no division in the sexes.

Adam Levine is taking his talents to the green -- the Maroon 5 singer just landed a golf show and we're told he's FIRED UP about it!

We're told Levine locked up a deal with Top Golf to host a project for their digital platforms (website, app, social media, etc.) and it'll feature Levine hitting balls with some of his famous pals.

The show is being called "Teeing Off with Adam Levine" and production is expected to begin soon.

One thing you can probably expect ... a cameo from his smokin' hot model wife, Behati Prinsloo, who's got a reputation for being one of the best female celebrity golfers in Hollywood.

Spring has sprung in these two almost identical floral photos of Busy Philipps ... Stop and smell the roses as you search the pastel pictures and try to find the differences between the seasonal shots.

Tammy Sytch is investing $erious dough into her long-term health ... entering a brand new sober house that costs $10k PER MONTH ... but the WWE Hall of Famer says it's worth every cent.

We're told the Tribeca pad includes 24-hour therapists, case managers, doctors and a host of programs designed to help the residents live a clean, sober life. She has 7 other "roommates" at the facility.

UFC star Dominick Cruz had to go radio silent recently during a secret trip to various U.S. military bases across the globe -- where he got to train soldiers how to punch and kick like an MMA fighter.

The prostitute dubbed the "Harbor Hooker" -- convicted in the killing of a Google executive -- has reportedly been ordered deported back to Canada.

Alix Tichelman completed her jail sentence March 29 but that morning she was handed over to Homeland Security. She pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter and administering drugs after injecting Goggle exec Timothy Hayes with heroin aboard his yacht back in 2013.

A judge determined her criminal conviction was enough to boot her from the US of A.

The 30-year-old high-end call girl was born in Canada but has reportedly spent little time there. She grew up in Georgia and had a U.S. green card.

Stephen Belafonte says Mel B blindsided him with allegations of sex tape extortion and out-and-out stealing precious Spice Girls memories ... this according to docs he just filed in their divorce war.

Stephen is strongly insinuating it is Mel B, not him, who is waging a smear campaign. Belafonte says in docs filed Friday, he was on the verge of settling the financial and custody issues, and even agreed to voluntarily stay away from Mel, but then she surprised him with a series of very public allegations in a surprise request for a restraining order, alleging domestic violence and extortion.

As for Mel's claims that Stephen threatened to expose her sex tapes, his lawyers say, "[Mel B] herself put her sexual trysts and the like at issue by alleging that [Belafonte] allegedly videotaped and/or recorded such conduct and forced her to have sexual relations, etc." He also says she's the one who disclosed in her legal docs some of the tapes involved 3-ways.

Belafonte's lawyers also grouse Mel was the primary breadwinner and forced him out of their family home with only one hour to gather his personal belongings, as Mel B watched "the entire charade in an SUV parked outside the residence."

We just got additional documents in the latest Mel B saga, and she claims the nanny Stephen Belafonte got pregnant is still working with him by holding sex tapes over the singer's head for extortion.

TMZ broke the story, Mel B's lawyers Larry Bakman and Susan Wiesner were in court Friday claiming Stephen has been threatening to release the tapes as a means of maintaining control over her ... repeatedly threatening to destroy her reputation and smear her name by making the tapes public.

According to the new docs, Belafonte "would regularly hold up his phone to me and point to a video file and say, 'It's just one click away,' meaning that with one click he could send out a video and my career would be over."

Mel B says she's lived in fear for a decade and it was flat-out extortion.

Now the twist ... Mel B says, "He [Stephen] has admitted to me that our former nanny, Lorraine Gilles, maintains possession and control over the media such that I could never have anyone locate the tapes so as to obtain and destroy the same."

As we reported, Mel B believes some of the tapes, along with 12-15 boxes of her Spice Girls memorabilia as well as photos of her dad, are in a storage locker with the user name, "Lorraine Gilles." But according to the docs, she is deeply involved ... Mel B says the locker is "controlled" by Gilles. She says, "I believe that Lorraine Gilles and [Belafonte] are acting in concert to deprive me of my personal belongings by either destroying or disseminating said belongings."

Mel B says she and her people have repeatedly asked Gilles for the keys and location of the storage facility, but Gilles -- who has since married -- has blown her off.