The pressure to please your parents is strong in most children, but when your parent are international superstars there is a lot to live up to.
In a revealing interview with ABC News David Beckham opens up about family life and the idea of his boys following in his soccer boot shaped footsteps.
“I’d love them to play soccer, but I want them to be happy doing it, you know,” Beckham said. “There was one thing that one of my boys turned around to me the other day, he said, ‘Daddy, you know, I’m not sure I want to play football all the time.”
“It broke my heart a little bit,” Beckham recalled. “He said, ‘Every time that I step onto the field, I know people are saying, you know, ‘This is David Beckham’s son,’ and if I’m not as good as you, then it’s not good enough.'”
“I said, ‘Okay, stop right there…You play because you want to play. You play because it makes you happy'”
David and Victoria Beckham have four children, three boys – Brooklyn, 16, Romeo, 12, and Cruz, 10, – and a daughter, Harper, 4, and Beckham says the pair work hard to keep their children protected from the scrutinising eyes of stardom.
“It’s hard because our 16-year-old son, Brooklyn, he’s got like 4 million Instagram followers,” Beckham said. “We control everything that he posts, everything that he does, and it’s the same with our other kids.”
David is not just a thoughtful parent, but also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, where he uses his fame to fight for the protection of children touched by violence and abuse.
