Two years after David Beckham released his documentary BECKHAM into the world, it’s time for his wife Victoria’s own story to be given the Netflix treatment – and it’s so juicy!
In the three-part special, the enigmatic pop star turned fashion mogul, 51, traces back to her humble beginnings and overnight fame in the world’s most successful girl band the Spice Girls, right up to her career pivot to football WAG and her life now as one of the fashion world’s biggest names.
Here, we break down the five biggest bombshells to come from the documentary.
ON HER EATING DISORDER AND NEVER ‘LIKING’ HERSELF
Never truly confident in herself, years of public scrutiny over her appearance and weight made Victoria her own worst enemy.
“I really started to not like myself,” she says. “I didn’t know what I saw in the mirror – was I fat, was I thin. I was just very critical of myself. I’ve been everything from Porky Posh to Skinny Posh. It’s been a lot.”
The mum-of-four, who was outrageously made to weigh herself on TV after first child Brooklyn’s birth, says she couldn’t control what others said about her so she controlled her weight – but “in an incredibly unhealthy way”.
“When you have an eating disorder, you become very good at lying and I was never honest about it… It really affects you when you’re being told constantly you’re not good enough,” she says. “I suppose that’s been with me my whole life.”
WHY SHE WANTED OUT OF THE SPICE GIRLS
For a bullied “loner” who “wanted to be liked”, joining a girl band at 19 was a dream.
“It was the first time I ever felt that I belonged,” Posh says of Geri Halliwell, Mel B, Mel C and Emma Bunton. “My life would be very different if I hadn’t met those four girls.”
Hubby David “mum-guilted” Vic into doing the 2008 reunion so their kids could see her as Posh, but she says, “It wasn’t what I loved anymore.”
While Geri, Mel C and Emma were at Vic’s film premiere, Mel B was not. “It did upset me not too long ago, it was Melanie B who said, ‘Don’t forget where you’ve come from’,” she says. “I have never forgotten where I come from.”
FINALLY MAKING IT IN FASHION – THEN ALMOST LOSING IT ALL
When everyone else saw her as a “laughing stock”, designer Roland Mouret believed in her, advising her to “kill the WAG” if she ever wanted to be a fashion success.
“[Fashion] was always my dream, but I knew what people thought, ‘She was a pop star, she’s married to a footballer, who does she think she is?’” she admits.
Her first show was “10 dresses in a hotel suite” but as the rave reviews came in and the business grew, “extravagant” spending left them “tens of millions in the red” and David in a “panic”. “The losses were so, so big, David was investing a lot,” Posh says. “I was so desperate to save [it].”
David, 50, admits Vic asking for more was “hard for both of us”, adding, “I didn’t have the money to keep doing this and eventually I was like, ‘This cannot continue.’”
David and the kids have been a huge support for Posh.
‘ATTENION-SEEKING’ WAG ERA
Post pop star life, Vic became known as the queen of the WAGs when David’s soccer career took them to Madrid in 2003.
“Look, it was fun. I had big boobs, I had big hair,” she says. “It was a moment in time.”
During her WAG era, she met Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria at a Real Madrid game. “We have so much in common,” Victoria says of her longtime friend, who is godmother to Cruz, 20, and Harper, 14.
Posh admits there was a sadness behind that persona. “When I think why, I suppose there’s an element of attention seeking. It’s how I stayed in the conversation,” she says.
She says, “I’ve never forgotten that Posh Spice is the reason I’m sitting here now.”
BANNED FROM THE DOCO!
The ongoing family feud with eldest son Brooklyn and his wife Nicola Peltz has dominated Beckham headlines this year, but an insider tells Woman’s Day that discreet Posh wasn’t about to air their dirty laundry on camera.
“Victoria always has a list of ‘don’t go there’ questions,” says the source. “She didn’t want this ridiculous feud to be immortalised in her Netflix tribute.”
David’s affair scandal with Rebecca Loos back in 2003 was also a no-go zone, though Vic hinted at the drama when she spoke of starting over for the LA Galaxy chapter of his career.
“The minute we landed in America it felt like a fresh start, like we escaped,” she says. “You’re a million miles away from what anybody might be saying about you.”
Victoria Beckham is now available to stream on Netflix.
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