Melanie Brown, aka Scary Spice, is fighting back against Eddie Murphy's claim that he isn't the father of her child. People magazine reports that Melanie, 31, is insisting that Eddie is the father and she can't imagine why he would publicly question the child's paternity. She is in her second trimester of her pregnancy.

She released a statement on Thursday saying, "I am obviously upset and distressed at some of the comments made by Eddie Murphy to the media. I have no idea why anybody would want to conduct themselves in this kind of manner about such a personal matter in such a public way."

"My main concern is for the well being of my (seven-year-old) daughter Phoenix and of course the baby. I was astonished at what Eddie said – there is absolutely no question that Eddie is the father."

If you remember, earlier this week we reported that Murphy, 45, has denied Melanie's unborn child. "We're not together anymore. And I don't know whose child that is, until it comes out and has a blood test. You shouldn't jump to conclusions, sir," he said in a interview on the Dutch TV show RTL Boulevard.

Eddie wasn't very gentleman like either. A source says that Brown didn't even know her relationship with Eddie was over until she landed in Los Angeles and received voicemails from friends telling her about the TV interview.

To make matters worse, at the New York City premiere of his movie Dreamgirls, Murphy stepped out with his new girlfriend, Tracey Edmonds. Tracy is a movie producer and the ex-wife of singer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. Edmonds said they have been dating for "about a month and a half."

"This was extraordinarily brazen what he did," a friend of Brown tells People. "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." Her friend also says that Brown will agree to a paternity test. "Melanie's gone through shock, pain, anger, the whole range of emotions. A lot of women or men in this situation would go to ground but she wants to take it head on."

Posted 11:00am EST 12-08-06