\u00ab\u00a0It’s not about him, it’s about me,\u00a0\u00bb declares Victoria Beckham (\u00ab\u00a0him\u00a0\u00bb being her husband Sir David Beckham).<\/p>\n
And that’s exactly what we get in a new three-part documentary, which drops on Netflix on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The former Spice Girl and fashion entrepreneur, 51, is determined to tell her own story \u2013 two years after former England captain Sir David, 50, released his own, hugely successful TV series.<\/p>\n
In the episodes, Victoria is strikingly open about her eating disorder, and how it made her \u00ab\u00a0good at lying\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
The series also takes us inside Victoria’s pop career, family life, struggles to reinvent herself and preparation for a major show at Paris Fashion Week.<\/p>\n
There are contributions from famous friends including Eva Longoria, and fashion titans such as Dame Anna Wintour and Donatella Versace.<\/p>\n
Here are our main takeaways from her documentary.<\/p>\n
Victoria achieved dizzying fame in the Spice Girls, so it’s hard to believe that at school, she was \u00ab\u00a0that uncool kid\u00a0\u00bb who didn’t fit in.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I was definitely a loner at school\u00a0\u00bb, she says, explaining she was bullied.<\/p>\n
She says that she first started getting criticised about her appearance and her weight at a young age.<\/p>\n
And when she joined the Spice Girls in 1994, she regularly faced negative headlines about her weight.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I was controlling [the narrative] in an incredibly unhealthy way. When you have an eating disorder, you become very good at lying,\u00a0\u00bb she said.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0And I was never very honest about it with my parents. I never talked about it publicly. It really affects you, when you’re being told constantly you’re not good enough. And I suppose that’ been with me my whole life.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
But Lady Beckham says her bandmates Mel B, Mel C, Emma Bunton and Geri Halliwell made her \u00ab\u00a0feel more lighthearted, more fun\u00a0\u00bb, and made her \u00ab\u00a0feel good enough\u00a0\u00bb about being herself.<\/p>\n
It’s a message she continues to instill in her daughter Harper, 14.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I tell Harper every day, be who you are,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
After the release of their chart-topping debut single Wannabe in 1996, \u00ab\u00a0Spice mania\u00a0\u00bb swept the planet, with their self-styled \u00ab\u00a0Girl Power\u00a0\u00bb mantra – a brand of female empowerment that made them a global pop culture phenomenon.<\/p>\n
But Geri Halliwell left the Spice Girls in 1998 and the group split up in 2001.<\/p>\n
Lady Beckham says she found the transition \u00ab\u00a0really, really difficult\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
She carried on making music, but the criticism she received \u00ab\u00a0really hurt\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Then came the infamous WAG period. Pictures of Victoria and other wives-and-girlfriends supporting their footballer partners in the German town of Baden-Baden in 2006 were plastered all over the tabloids.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It was fun,\u00a0\u00bb says Lady Beckham of that time in her life.<\/p>\n
But she now concedes there was an \u00ab\u00a0element of attention seeking\u00a0\u00bb to it all. \u00ab\u00a0I was trying to find myself, I felt incomplete, sad, frozen in time maybe,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
After the family moved to the US, Lady Beckham decided she wanted to work in fashion.<\/p>\n
But to do that, she knew she had to shed her other personas \u2013 the Spice Girl, the WAG. \u00ab\u00a0I buried those boobs in Baden-Baden,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
Lady Beckham is very honest about the struggles her fashion business faced.<\/p>\n
She says people didn’t see her as \u00ab\u00a0cool at all\u00a0\u00bb, and that a lot of people refused to take her seriously.<\/p>\n
And Vogue giant Dame Anna cements that view, when she says of Victoria’s fashion aspirations: \u00ab\u00a0I thought maybe this was a hobby. I didn’t quite believe it.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
We see the growth of Victoria Beckham Ltd but also the serious financial troubles it faced. Sir David says he didn’t think her business would survive, while Lady Beckham agrees.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I almost lost everything and that was a dark, dark time,\u00a0\u00bb she says. \u00ab\u00a0I used to cry before I went to work every day because I felt like a firefighter.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
She says her firm was \u00ab\u00a0tens of millions in the red\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
In a later scene, her voice breaks, and she wells up in tears, when she recalls how Sir David stepped in to help her business out.<\/p>\n
But the series also shows her turn things around, and we see her pull out all the stops in the run-up to her triumphant Spring\/Summer show at Paris Fashion Week in September 2024.<\/p>\n
Supermodel Gigi Hadid walked for her, wearing a striking emerald green gown. Dame Anna is shown in attendance, and, in an earlier clip, says Lady Beckham \u00ab\u00a0totally proved us wrong\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Today, Victoria’s business has offices in London and New York, with its flagship store in Mayfair, London. The brand’s products are in 230 stores across 50 countries around the world, according to the company’s website.<\/p>\n
The couple’s eldest son, 26-year-old Brooklyn, gets a few mentions in the show and appears briefly. Lady Beckham brings him up in conversation, when discussing the morning sickness she faced while pregnant with him and performing with the Spice Girls.<\/p>\n
But for the past few months, much of the online interest around the Beckhams has focused on reports that Brooklyn and his wife Nicola have fallen out with the rest of the family.<\/p>\n
The couple were absent from David Beckham’s 50th birthday celebrations and did not post a birthday message online, fuelling the intrigue.<\/p>\n
Nicola has in the past denied there was a feud in the family. Sir David and Lady Beckham have never acknowledged the rumoured rift, and declined to comment when asked by BBC News.<\/p>\n
We did get a hint on the topic recently from Victoria, who told the Sunday Times how she felt Liam and Noel Gallagher’s reconciliation must have made their mother \u00ab\u00a0so happy\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0As a mum, that must be… she must feel so happy to see her boys getting on,\u00a0\u00bb she said.<\/p>\n
Showbiz reporter Catrina Rose notes there was \u201cno hint\u201d of any alleged feud in the series.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Victoria’s setting a lot of records straight here, but she’s not being drawn on this particular topic.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Lady Beckham’s pout became her defining look in the 1990s. But in the new series, she admits there’s a deeper reason as to why she never smiles.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0The minute I see a camera, I change,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0The barrier goes up, my armour goes on, and that’s when, you know, the miserable cow that doesn’t smile – that’s when she comes out. And I’m so conscious of that.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
She adds that she would \u00ab\u00a0rather not be that person\u00a0\u00bb and wishes she had the confidence to walk out in front of cameras and smile.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, she insists that she does actually smile.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I’ve looked miserable for all these years because when we stand on the red carpet, this guy has always gone on the left,\u00a0\u00bb she says, gesturing at Sir David.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0When I smile, I smile from the left, because if I smile from the right, I look unwell. So consequently I’m smiling on the inside, but no one ever sees it, so that’s why I look so moody.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
The programme is filled with small details about the Beckhams’ relationship \u2013 many of which we didn’t know before.<\/p>\n
For example, Sir David starts a blender when he doesn’t want to listen to Victoria (so she says, anyway).<\/p>\n
The pair have fond memories of their whirlwind romance in the 1990s, which led to them getting married and having a baby within two years.<\/p>\n
Sir David reflects that his parents – and his manager – would have preferred him to marry a local girl who stayed in Manchester, where he was playing for Manchester United. \u00ab\u00a0But I didn’t want that,\u00a0\u00bb he says, opting instead for globe-trotting celebrity Victoria.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I was so excited, I wanted everyone to know I was dating Posh Spice,\u00a0\u00bb the former England captain says.<\/p>\n
Lady Beckham, for her part, says she was never a young girl dreaming of getting married or becoming a mum. \u00ab\u00a0It wasn’t until I met David that those things even occurred to me,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
In the final episode, which was filmed before Sir David’s 50th birthday this year, the pair get reflective about everything they have achieved, and what lies ahead for them.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Success, it feels good, I’m not going to lie,\u00a0\u00bb says Victoria. \u00ab\u00a0I’ve still got a lot that I want to do.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Sir David, for his part, seems to have something else on his mind.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Now we’re both, well I’m almost 50, you’re 51, what’s next? Another baby?,\u00a0\u00bb David asks his wife.<\/p>\n
Victoria laughs. \u00ab\u00a0Another baby? My God. No.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Victoria Beckham, a three-part documentary series, is available now on Netflix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00ab\u00a0It’s not about him, it’s about me,\u00a0\u00bb declares Victoria Beckham (\u00ab\u00a0him\u00a0\u00bb being her husband Sir David Beckham). And that’s exactly what we get in a new three-part documentary, which drops on Netflix on Thursday. The former Spice Girl and fashion entrepreneur, 51, is determined to tell her own story \u2013 two years after former England […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}