The life and times of David Beckham: Footballer on becoming public enemy No 1 after ’98 World Cup, Rebecca Loos, questionable fashion choices, kidnap and death threats… and moment his father found out he had been called up to Man U
- It comes after a new four-part Netflix documentary, titled ‘Beckham’, was released at 8am this morning
A candid David Beckham has spoken about some of the biggest and most infamous moments of his life in a new tell-all documentary released on Netflix today.
The footballing superstar told of his struggles with his mental health after he became public enemy number one following his sending off against Argentina at the World Cup, with abuse being directed towards him and his family from the strangers.
His wife Victoria also joins him in speaking for the first time about the pain suffered in the aftermath of claims about his alleged affair with Rebecca Loos, with the former Spice Girl breaking down in tears as she confides it was the ‘hardest’ time of her life.
The series also included behind the scenes footage from their infamous wedding, in which they donned garish purple clothes during a lavish ceremony, including Gary Neville’s very rude best man speech. They also addressed ‘sarong-gate’, where he derided after being spotted in public wearing a dress, as well as the decision to put David and Victoria together on the cover of Vogue magazine.
Meanwhile, David reveals his rows with Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, including the moment he had to be ‘held back’ by teammates during the infamous bust-up where the Scot kicked a boot at him.
The programme also features interviews with David’s parents about his childhood, the surreal moment he became a Manchester United player and what his mother really thought about the woman who would become wife and mother of this children.
Victoria Beckham has spoken for the first time of the pain she suffered in the aftermath of the claims about her husband David’s alleged affair with Rebecca Loos
Rebecca Loos, pictured in December 2004, claimed she had had an affair with David Beckham while he was living in Spain
In his documentary Beckham, David admitted he still doesn’t know how they got through the 2003 crisis, but that he and his wife knew they had to ‘fight for their family’
Victoria Beckham has spoken for the first time of the pain she suffered in the aftermath of the claims about her husband David’s alleged affair with Rebecca Loos
The show looks back at David and Victoria’s wedding
The couple and their son Brooklyn donned garish purple outfits at the wedding
The couple pictured here at their wedding with baby Brooklyn
The couple looked back on their wedding as part of the new documentary series
Looking back: The former England captain also told how he ‘felt physically sick everyday’ as he and Victoria (pictured in their early romance) faced a battle to save their marriage
In one episode of the series they looked into ‘sarong-gate’, where David was derided for wearing the piece of clothing in 1999
The four-episode documentary, titled Beckham, follows Posh and Becks in their personal and professional lives, going through their history together with interviews of the couple.
Episode one of the series charts David’s meteoric rise from humble beginnings in London to becoming a footballing superstar at Manchester United under the tutelage of Sir Alex Ferguson.
But while success on the pitch came and he became beloved in Manchester, ‘Pretty Boy’, as he was known among his teammates, wanted more.
Former footballer Gary Neville tells the documentary: ‘It [football] wasn’t enough for him. He wanted to be more than a football player.’
It details how he started to develop Brand Beckham, bringing in the additional money to fuel an increasingly extravagant lifestyle – ‘getting his salary on a Friday and spending it on Saturday’, says Phil Neville.
However, this brought him into conflict with his domineering boss, who felt he wasn’t concentrating on his football.
‘I wanted to have a career after football. And that ate away at the manager,’ David says.
‘He just wanted me to be the best footballer I could be. And get married to a local girl who wasn’t a superstar.’
It charts how their relationship quickly progressed into ‘Posh and Becks’ and tabloid gold, and the impact it had on his performances on the pitch and the relationship with his manager.
It also deals with one of his most infamous moments, his red card against Argentina in the World Cup which led to him becoming public enemy number one.
In the series the couple speak publicly for the first time about David’s affair with personal assistant Rebecca Loos.
Almost 20 years after it was claimed he and the personal assistant had become close while he was playing in Spain for Real Madrid, Mrs Beckham revealed that the months afterwards were the ‘hardest’ of her life and that she no longer felt like the couple ‘had each other’.
Meanwhile, Beckham admitted he still doesn’t know how they got through the 2003 crisis but he and his former Spice Girl wife knew they had to ‘fight for their family’, and said they felt like they were ‘drowning’ when their high-profile marriage was in the headlines for months.
The former England captain also told how he ‘felt physically sick every day’ as he and Mrs Beckham faced a battle to save their marriage.
In a searingly honest interview in the fourth and final episode, Mrs Beckham, 49, appeared to fight back tears as she was asked if it was the hardest time in their marriage. ‘100 per cent,’ she confessed. ‘It was the hardest period for us. Because it felt like the world was against us.
‘Here’s the thing, we were against each other, if I’m being completely honest. Up until Madrid sometimes it felt like us against everybody else but we were together, we were connected, we had each other. But when we were in Spain, it didn’t really feel like we had each other either. And that’s sad. I can’t even begin to tell you how hard it was. And how it affected me.’
Beckham, 48, stunned the world when his alleged relationship with Ms Loos were revealed in the now defunct News Of The World newspaper. At the time Mrs Beckham had decided to remain in the UK so that her young sons Brooklyn and Romeo could stay in their schools. The decision left Beckham lonely, and he admits that he struggled.
He said: ‘When I first moved to Spain it was difficult because I had been part of a club and a family for my whole career, from the age of 15 to when I was 27. I get sold overnight, the next minute I’m in a city, I don’t speak the language. More importantly, I didn’t have my family.
‘Every time that we woke up we felt there was something else… we both felt at the time that we were not losing each other but drowning.’
Asked how their marriage survived, Beckham told how he feared playing football while his wife struggled to find a way through their crisis.
Shaking his head, he said: ‘I don’t know how we got through it, in all honestly. Victoria is everything to me, to see her hurt was incredibly difficult, but we’re fighters and at that time we needed to fight for each other, we needed to fight for our family.
‘And what we had was worth fighting for. There were some days that I would wake up and think, ‘How am I going to go to work? How am I going to walk on to that training pitch? How am I going to look as if nothing’s wrong?’ I felt physically sick every day when I opened my eyes, ‘How am I going to do this?’
Ms Loos, 45, is now living in the Norwegian wilderness and spends her time eating healthily and practising yoga
Hard: Almost 20 years after it was claimed he and Rebecca had become close while he was playing in Spain, Victoria revealed that the months afterwards were the ‘hardest’ of her life
Throwback: David and Victoria are pictured after the claims of his alleged relationship with Rebecca emerged
Brooklyn pictured with Victoria
The couple made their guests where black and white for wedding, while Gary Neville made a very rude best man’s speech
The series features footage from their wedding, including their first dance
The crisis prompted Mrs Beckham to relocate to Madrid, where they bought a £3million home which she says she decorated herself. She later went on to have the couple’s third son, Cruz, now 18, in the Spanish capital.
Despite creating a base for her family in Madrid, she admits she was not happy with leaving the UK. She said: ‘As soon as I could get the kids in school, we then move full-time. Did I resent David? If I am being totally honest, yes I did. It was probably, if I’m being honest, the most unhappy I have ever been in my life. It wasn’t that I felt unheard because I chose to internalise a lot of it because I was always mindful of a focus that he needed.’
READ MORE HERE: Victoria Beckham reveals what she REALLY thought about relocating to Spain after husband David’s shock Real Madrid signing: ‘I was always the villain’
Mrs Beckham described their time in Madrid as a ‘nightmare’ and ‘an absolute circus’, while Beckham said the school run was ‘live on Spanish TV’.
The designer admitted that was always perceived as ‘the villain’ by Spanish football fans because she didn’t move there with David right away, insisting that she only dealyed it until she could find suitable schools for their sons Brooklyn and Romeo.
Detailing the moment David shared the news of their relocation in the documentary’s third episode, Victoria said she replied: ‘What do you mean we’re going to Spain?”
‘[David] said ”we’re going to Spain,” when?’ ”In about 12 hours!”
Victoria added: ‘I was like what do you mean we don’t have anywhere to live, we don’t have schools for the children, what do you mean? But the reality is that we moved to Spain.’
Asked how she felt about the move, Victoria said: ‘Less than ideal.’
Victoria admitted that Spanish fans struggled to warm to her, particularly after it was reported that she didn’t like Spain because it ‘smelled like garlic,’ which she denied ever saying.
‘More often than not, I was always the villain,’ she said.
‘It was never about Spain, we had a family we had to think about. I had two children, Brooklyn and Romeo, and this is what nobody seemed to take into consideration, when I was getting criticised for not being in Spain from the beginning.
Revealed: Victoria Beckham has admitted that relocating to Spain was ‘less-than ideal’ after her husband David’s shock move to Real Madrid
New move: The footballer, 48, was stunned when he learned that he’d been signed for the La Liga side in 2003 after over a decade at his boyhood club Manchester United
Opinion: The designer said that was always perceived as ‘the villain’ by Spanish football fans because she didn’t move there with David right away
‘A kid has to go to school, I knew I couldn’t move until I had a school for Brooklyn. I was doing Monday to Friday in London and then jumping on a plane to Spain.
‘But everything was fabricated, taken out of context. It was never about Spain.’
In the series the couple also look back at their wedding, which took place on July 4, 1999, at Luttrellstown Castle in Ireland, with OK! magazine paying £1 million for the photography rights.
David shared clips from his big day in the docu-series, laughing at his decision to make their guests wear black and white while he and Victoria donned garish purple ensembles.
‘I think I just took Victoria’s lead on it but what were we thinking?!’
READ MORE HERE: Victoria Beckham reveals the VERY rude chant hurled at her when she supported David at his football games: ‘It was embarrassing and hurtful’
Having no regrets on her end, Victoria quipped: ‘It was fun!
‘We weren’t worried about what people were going to say. I mean Christ, how lovely to be that way when you just don’t really care you just want to express yourselves’ but she did confess ‘I don’t know where the thrones came from’, while referring to the gold chairs she and David posed on.
Fans were also given a glimpse at his best man Gary Neville’s very rude wedding speech, when he made reference to the Spice Girls’ sex life.
He joked: ‘David said the Spice Girls requested the Bayern Munich team be present today and David was puzzled at this request and asked why.
‘The Spice Girls replied that they’d like to meet any men who could stay on top for 90 minutes and still come second!’
In the series Victoria reveals their marriage had its ups and downs, recalling her fury with her husband after he told her a photo shoot with Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé clashed with her giving birth.
The former Spice Girl had been given a date by doctors to have a C-section with youngest son Cruz in 2005 at a Madrid hospital.
When she shared the news with David he told her he already had agreed to shoot a Pepsi advert with the US superstars.
Victoria, 49, explained how she told David the good news before he said he was pre-booked.
She said: ‘What do you mean, a shoot?’
David replied: ‘Yeah, I’ve got to do a shoot with Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé.’
Victoria said: ‘I was like, ‘Are you.. ‘Seriously, I’m about to burst, I’m on bed rest. Are you kidding me?
‘You’ve got a damn photoshoot with Jennifer Lopez who is gorgeous and not about to have a baby.’
Oh no: The former Spice Girl had been given a date by doctors to have a C-section but when she shared the news with David he told her he already had agreed to shoot a Pepsi advert with the US superstars (seen together)
Annoyed: Victoria Beckham has revealed she was furious with husband David after he told her a photo shoot with Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé clashed with her giving birth.
Heartbreaking: David Beckham choked back tears as he spoke candidly about his life and career in a new Netflix docu-series that reflects on his three decades in the spotlight
Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was interviewed by film makers as part of the series
Gary Neville, who made a very rude best man speech at David and Victoria’s wedding, spoke candidly about their relationship
While David was eventually at the birth at Madrid’s Hospital Ruber Internacional, Victoria said she was ‘p***** off’ when she saw a number of newspaper articles with him posted next to the two American singers.
Victoria said: ‘So I had my C section and I remember lying there, don’t feel at my most gorgeous, let’s just say, and I remember someone showing me the front page of the newspaper which was a gorgeous picture of David between Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé and the headline was ‘What would Posh say?’
‘Let me tell you want Posh would say. Posh was p***ed off.’
Meanwhile, David choked back the tears as he reflected on being blamed for England’s World Cup 1998 exit after lashing out at Diego Simeone, sparking a lengthy campaign of hate and abuse from fans.
READ MORE HERE: Emotional David Beckham speaks for the first time about his mental health battles, shares never-before-seen moments from his wedding to Victoria and reveals his fears for son Brooklyn as he reflects on his turbulent career in new docu-series
Recalling the turbulent period, which David faced at the age of just 23, the athlete confessed he was a ‘mess’ and left unable to eat or sleep, with his wife Victoria, 49, revealing he suffered from clinical depression and the experience ‘broke’ him.
David recalled feeling ‘very vulnerable and alone’ as he landed back in the UK to hordes of jeering spectators and negative press, with his father Ted admitting David was ‘distraught’ when he met him, saying the young sports star ‘fell into my arms and said, “I’ve left everybody down.”‘
The night before the World Cup game, David had learnt that Victoria was pregnant with their first child and after touching down in England to see his parents he wasted no time jetting off to New York to spend time with his expectant fiancée – who was touring the States with The Spice Girls.
Victoria confessed: ‘I remember not really understanding how serious it was because you know I’ve never really been into football.
‘When he came to me in America he felt he let himself down, he let his teammates down, he let his country down, he let the fans down, me – he felt he let everybody down.
‘But when he was with us Spice Girls there was protection, people couldn’t get to us, we could put a cotton wool around us.
‘I don’t think either of us really realised what was going on in the UK. He went from having that protection into absolute carnage.’
Growing emotional as he reflected on the backlash he received, David confessed: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever talked about it because I can’t.
‘I find it hard to talk about what I went through because it was so extreme. The whole country hated me.’
Detailing the horrific abuse – which became so bad that he was unable to visit the toilet unattended for fear of being attacked on the way – David continued: ‘Wherever I went, I got abused every day.
‘To walk down the street and see people look at you a certain way, spit at you, abuse you, come up to your face and say some of the things that they said, that’s difficult.
‘I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t sleeping, I was a mess.’
David, who received death threats and had effigies made in his likeness, went on to detail the impact it had on his parents, Ted and Sandra, noting: ‘It brought a lot of attention that I would never wish on anyone, let alone my parents and I can’t forgive myself for that.
David recalled the moment he was sent off against Argentina for a kick on Diego Simeone, and the abuse that followed
The former England player, pictured here with teammate Gary Neville, says he fell into depression after the sending off
‘That’s the tough part that happened then. I’m 47 years old now and I beat myself up about it still. Inside it killed me.’
The series looks back at one of the most famous goals during his football career, when he scored from the halfway line against Wimbledon for Manchester United.
READ MORE HERE: Inside the Beckham family album: David takes fans on a cute trip down memory lane with throwback snaps in new Netflix series (including a few Victoria would rather forget!)
He recalls that his then-manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, would be ‘on his feet and he’d be killing you’ for trying something like that and it failing to work out.
After trying once in the match before, he says he ‘looked up and I thought, why not?’ for his second attempt, which went into the net.
In interviews with his former Manchester United teammate Rio Ferdinand, and his father Ted Beckham, they reveal how this put David on the fast track to stardom.
The episode then goes through his childhood and how he would spend hours and hours in the garden playing football after school, shirking friendships and relationships to focus on the beautiful game.
It recalls the fateful moment that David’s parents received a phone call from Ferguson asking him to come and play for the club as a teenager.
The former manager said David was a ‘small, skinny boy’ and it was his job to make him a man.
However, their relationship was not always smooth sailing, with David revealing he had to be held back from his manager during their infamous row in 2004 after the Scot kicked a boot at him.
Tensions grew between the pair after Man United’s FA Cup fifth-round tie against Arsenal in the 2002-03 campaign – which they lost 2-0 – with Ferguson leading a dressing room inquest.
Beckham recalled seeing his ‘fuming’ boss and revealed he had sworn at him – further enraging him on top of the result – after his manager criticised him for failing to follow his runner in the build up to a goal.
Ferguson then launched a boot at Beckham, with the midfielder later seen sporting an eye injury in training.
‘We walked in the changing room and the boss is fuming. I can see it by his face,’ the former Real Madrid and LA Galaxy man said.
‘And when you see the boss’s face like this, you don’t want to be anywhere near him. It is a face that no one can do, trust me.’
After it was claimed the coach was ‘effing and blinding’, he added: ‘I went back at the boss and said “no” and then I swore. I said the f- word. And then I saw him change, and I was like, “s***, I really shouldn’t have said that”. I think I said the f-word too many times.’
He then revealed his furious reaction to the boot being launched at him, adding: ‘I went at him – someone had to hold me back.’
David Beckham has shed light on his infamous run-in with Sir Alex Ferguson that saw the coach kick a boot at him in 2003
Beckham revealed he had to be held back after the furious encounter after an FA Cup loss to Arsenal
Former United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had also revealed that it was his boot that was launched at Beckham before revealing more details about Ferguson taking issue with Beckham’s performance.
‘When you lose you take your boots off and wait for the gaffer to talk and he starts effing and blinding at David. Look at the video, David says. [Sir Alex says] I don’t need a f***ing video, I’ve got my eyes. I could then just see my boot flying.’
Beckham later spoke of his heartache at having to leave United for Real Madrid the following season – saying he pleaded to stay at Old Trafford.
He said he asked ‘Can I speak to the boss?’ before being told, “No, he doesn’t want to talk to you”.
Beckham added: ‘And I said, “I need to speak to the boss, I need to know this is really what he wants” and I pleaded to not go. I couldn’t get in contact with the boss. Did I ever want to leave Man United? No, never.
‘It was my home. My relationship with the boss was always special. We had our moments, but I still loved him.’
Ferguson said their relationship ‘was at a stalemate’.
‘There was not going to be any point in me saying to David, “I’m selling you”,’ he added.
‘The decision was made, it was better he went. He didn’t need to go. He could have stayed if he wanted. I think he knew it was the right time.’
The couple say the documentary, which features never before heard anecdotes from Beckham’s parents Ted and Sandra, Sir Alex Ferguson, Gary Neville and Beckham’s best friend Dave Gardner, was like ‘therapy’ for them.
David Beckham of Real Madrid in action during the pre-season friendly match between China Dragon and Real Madrid at the Workers Stadium on August 2, 2003 in Beijing, China
Couple: They seemed a million miles away from the difficult days in Madrid
Sweet: On Tuesday night, the couple were joined by their four children for the premiere of Beckham’s new four-part documentary which spans his life
Mrs Beckham tells of her relief at moving to Los Angeles, where Beckham played for LA Galaxy, admitting she felt ‘at peace’.
‘I was so relieved to be going from such a tricky situation in Spain. It [LA] was a place where everything was just so much easier. Easier to find a house, easier to find a school, you don’t have a language barrier. And so for me, it was all my dreams come true.
‘LA was a great place to live, I’ve got my family together, and I let go of a lot of pain. I remember someone saying to me once that LA is like rehab for famous people, that’s why we always see people walking in Malibu in Ugg boots and tracksuits. The schools were great. I definitely felt at peace. Finally we seemed settled.’
Mrs Beckham, however, did share her fury at her husband’s decision to temporarily leave the LA side to play for AC Milan in Italy so he could get into the England team again after an ultimatum from manager Fabio Capello.
She said of when he told her: ‘What do you mean, you wanna go to Milan? We’ve just moved from one side of the world to the other for you. What I signed up for was us being in LA as a family, so I didn’t expect to turn up in LA, have everything perfect, and then he go, ‘Oh guess what, surprise! I’m going away again’. I respected his career, I always have done immensely, but not again. I was really upset.’
The finale of the series sees the couple dancing to Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers’ hit Islands In The Stream at their converted barn in Oxfordshire. All four of their children, including daughter Harper, 12, feature in the scenes, as well as Brooklyn’s wife Nicola Peltz.
Speaking of their lives as they approach their 25th wedding anniversary next July, Mrs Beckham says: ‘I feel happy now, I feel really content now.
‘There’s an element of you’re passing the baton on a little. And you want that for your kids, wouldn’t you say?’
To which Beckham replies: ‘Yeah, I’m not ready to pass the baton on yet.’
Speaking of their children, Beckham says it is difficult for them to be normal when their ‘dad is a former England captain and their mum an ex Spice Girl’. He says: ‘They could be little s***s but they’re not.’
Last night the couple attended the London premiere of a four-part Netflix documentary which spans his life from his childhood through to his latest role as co-owner of US side Inter Miami.
Beckham and his designer wife, who was wearing a white trouser suit from her own label, were joined by their four children Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper, as well as Brooklyn’s actress wife Nicola Peltz and Romeo’s model girlfriend Mia Regan.
Celebrities on the guest list included James Corden, Tana Ramsay, Gary Neville, Alexa Chung and Steve Bruce, and afterwards Beckham threw a lavish party at The Twenty Two club in Mayfair.
It all seemed a million miles away from the difficult days in Madrid, which friends of the couple say they decided to speak about because they wanted to appear authentic. They also no longer feel they have ‘anything to prove’.
BECKHAM is available to stream on Netflix now.
Emotional David Beckham speaks for the first time about his mental health battles, shares never-before-seen moments from his wedding to Victoria and reveals his fears for son Brooklyn as he reflects on his turbulent career in new docu-series
David Beckham choked back tears as he spoke candidly about his life and career in a new Netflix docu-series that reflects on his three decades in the spotlight.
The sportsman, 48, burst into the limelight at the tender age of 17 as Manchester United’s budding new midfielder, quickly earning himself the reputation as football’s golden boy and one of the most talented players of his generation.
Yet his career threatened to be derailed when he was blamed for England’s World Cup 1998 exit after lashing out at Diego Simeone, sparking a lengthy campaign of hate and abuse from fans.
Reflecting on the turbulent period, which David faced at the age of just 23, the athlete confessed he was a ‘mess’ and left unable to eat or sleep, with his wife Victoria, 49, revealing he suffered from clinical depression and the experience ‘broke’ him.
David recalled feeling ‘very vulnerable and alone’ as he landed back in the UK to hordes of jeering spectators and negative press, with his father Ted admitting David was ‘distraught’ when he met him, saying the young sports star ‘fell into my arms and said, ‘I’ve left everybody down.”
Heartbreaking: David Beckham choked back tears as he spoke candidly about his life and career in a new Netflix docu-series that reflects on his three decades in the spotlight
Cute couple: The documentary also featured footage from his wedding to Victoria, where their guests were made to wear black and white while he and Victoria donned garish purple outfits
The night before the World Cup game, David had learnt that Victoria was pregnant with their first child and after touching down in England to see his parents he wasted no time jetting off to New York to spend time with his expectant fiancée – who was touring the States with The Spice Girls.
Victoria confessed: ‘I remember not really understanding how serious it was because you know I’ve never really been into football.
‘When he came to me in America he felt he let himself down, he let his teammates down, he let his country down, he let the fans down, me – he felt he let everybody down.
‘But when he was with us Spice Girls there was protection, people couldn’t get to us, we could put a cotton wool around us.
‘I don’t think either of us really realised what was going on in the UK. He went from having that protection into absolute carnage.’
Growing emotional as he reflected on the backlash he received, David confessed: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever talked about it because I can’t.
‘I find it hard to talk about what I went through because it was so extreme. The whole country hated me.’
Detailing the horrific abuse – which became so bad that he was unable to visit the toilet unattended for fear of being attacked on the way – David continued: ‘Wherever I went, I got abused every day.
‘To walk down the street and see people look at you a certain way, spit at you, abuse you, come up to your face and say some of the things that they said, that’s difficult.
‘I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t sleeping, I was a mess.’
Struggle: David’s career threatened to be derailed when he was blamed for England’s World Cup 1998 exit and reflecting on the turbulent period the athlete confessed he was a ‘mess’
By his side: David was supported by Victoria who he met when she attended a Manchester United game with bandmate Melanie C
David, who received death threats and had effigies made in his likeness, went on to detail the impact it had on his parents, Ted and Sandra, noting: ‘It brought a lot of attention that I would never wish on anyone, let alone my parents and I can’t forgive myself for that.
‘That’s the tough part that happened then. I’m 47 years old now and I beat myself up about it still. Inside it killed me.’
As David’s teammate Phil Neville spoke out about the ‘inhumane’ way David was treated by the nation, Victoria remarked: ‘He was really depressed, clinically depressed.
‘It pained me so much. I still want to kill these people [for how they treated him].’
Victoria also took aim at the 1998 World Cup manager Glen Hoddle, seething: ‘He didn’t come out and try to protect David and how old was David, 23?
‘You’re a kid at 23 and Glen Hoddle was a man – well I wouldn’t even call him a man actually, he was an older person – I mean the absolute hate, public bullying…’
Thankfully, David was able to redeem himself when he took on Diego once again at the Manchester United vs Inter Milan Champions League quarter final in 1999.
Yet while all eyes were on David and his grudge match with the Argentinian player, David confessed his thoughts were consumed by the fact Victoria could welcome their first child any at any day because she was already two weeks over her due date when the match occurred.
It caused tension between the pair, with teammate Gary Neville recalling hearing the pair bicker over the phone.
‘They were at each other, he was distracted, ‘ Gary noted. Victoria was saying ‘if you’re not here, if you miss this birth, if you’re not back…’ and I went, ‘turn your f***ing phone off, you’ll be melted by the time we get to the game tonight.”
After a rocky start to the game, David was able to find solace in the crowd chanting his name, helping Manchester United spur on to a 2-0 victory.
He was able to make it back in time for the birth of his first child and was by Victoria’s side for her caesarean section, with Victoria quick to clear up: ‘I wasn’t too posh to push, I was told it would not be safe for me to be put into labour.’
Steady: David nearly missed the birth of their first child because of game commitments but thankfully he made it back in time
She mused: ‘I’d go to the games with Brooklyn and the abuse was – it’s hard to explain’
The couple welcomed son Brooklyn on March 4, 1999 at Portland Hospital in London, with David calling fatherhood ‘the most amazing thing’.
Yet even the prospect of welcoming his first child wasn’t enough to stop him from thinking about his image, with Victoria recalling that when she was in labour and lying in bed numb from the waist down due to an epidural, the footballer had cheekily asked if she could style his hair.
Upon becoming a father though, his priorities shifted, with David recalling: ‘I all of a sudden thought, ‘how am I going to protect him?’
‘That night Brooklyn slept next to Victoria, she said ‘come sleep on the bed with me’ and I said ‘absolutely not’, I slept with my head facing the door, because I was paranoid someone was going to steal him.
‘It’s meant to be a happy moment, and it was a happy moment of course, but I was worried. I didn’t want him to come into this life at a time when I was going through what I was going through.’
Voicing her fears for her young son, Victoria revealed: ‘We were getting kidnapping threats right from when we had Brooklyn and you can’t even explain how that feels because we couldn’t hide.
‘These are all things that are now coming back to me and I find it quite stressful now because I’ve blocked so much of it out and I think David has as well.
‘Imagine having a baby and having death threats. David had to play knowing this was all going on and I was on my own in an apartment with a baby.
‘I’d go to the games with Brooklyn and the abuse was – it’s hard to explain.’
She recalled one particularly vulgar chant from fans, in which they’d scream ‘Posh Spice takes it up the a**e’, with Victoria admitting: ‘It’s embarrassing, it’s hurtful.
‘I remember sitting down and the lady next to me turned and she didn’t know what to say, she said ‘do you want a polo?’ Because what do you say when you sit next to someone and 75,000 people have been saying you take it up the a**e?
‘We did not know what to do. it felt like we were drowning.’
Ironically, it was the abuse aimed at his family that ‘spurred David on’, with the footballer improving his track record.
The couple refused to let any vile remarks get in the way of celebrating their love for one another, with the couple tying the knot on July 4, 1999, at Luttrellstown Castle in Ireland, with OK! magazine paying £1 million for the photography rights.
David shared clips from his big day in the docu-series, laughing at his decision to make their guests wear black and white while he and Victoria donned garish purple ensembles.
As Gary described the wedding as ‘a spectacle’, David mused: ‘I try to think back to when I decided to wear a purple suit and I don’t know when that happened…
‘I think I just took Victoria’s lead on it but what were we thinking?!’
Having no regrets on her end, Victoria quipped: ‘It was fun!
‘We weren’t worried about what people were going to say. I mean Christ, how lovely to be that way when you just don’t really care you just want to express yourselves’ but she did confess ‘I don’t know where the thrones came from’, while referring to the gold chairs she and David posed on.
Wedding venue: The couple refused to let any vile remarks get in the way of celebrating their love for one another, with the couple tying the knot on July 4, 1999, in Ireland
Behind the scenes: Footage showed David getting ready for his big day while being entertained by his best man and teammate Gary Neville
Dapper: Gary did all he could to keep David at ease as he got ready for the big day
David mused: ‘I try to think back to when I decided to wear a purple suit and I don’t know when that happened… ‘I think I just took Victoria’s lead on it but what were we thinking?!’
Victoria added: ‘We weren’t worried about what people were going to say. I mean Christ, how lovely to be that way when you just don’t really care you just want to express yourselves’
Spice up your life! Everyone was in full party mode for the night’s celebrations
Naughty! Fans were also given a glimpse at his best man Gary Neville’s very rude wedding speech, when he made reference to the Spice Girls’ sex life
Fans were also given a glimpse at his best man Gary Neville’s very rude wedding speech, when he made reference to the Spice Girls’ sex life.
He joked: ‘David said the Spice Girls requested the Bayern Munich team be present today and David was puzzled at this request and asked why.
‘The Spice Girls replied that they’d like to meet any men who could stay on top for 90 minutes and still come second!’
David Beckham’s worried mum Sandra reveals she was forced to intervene when he started dating Victoria
By Rebecca Lawrence for MailOnline
David Beckham was ‘addicted’ to wife Victoria when they first started dating, with his worried mother Sandra forced to try and intervene.
Reflecting on the couple’s love story in the new Netflix documentary, BECKHAM, the footballer’s friends and loved ones recalled their shock at the extreme lengths the Manchester United player would go to in order to spend time with her.
The pair’s intense and conflicting schedule – with David at football training in Manchester and Victoria touring the world with The Spice Girls – meant that they rarely had any free time together.
Yet David didn’t let it stop him from doing all he could to meet up during their early courtship in 1997, with the sportsman, 48, confessing: ‘I didn’t care when I saw her, how much I saw her.
‘If it was me driving down to London to see her for seven minutes, I did it!’
All over each other: David Beckham was ‘like an addict’ when he started dating Victoria with worried mother Sandra intervening so he wouldn’t ‘lose everything’
He added: ‘Everything about Victoria, I loved. I didn’t know she was the strong woman that she was and I like that. I don’t whether it was because I wanted her to look after me…
‘She’s a strong, strong woman. She can be a pain in the a**e though!’
Victoria, 49, was left smitten by his grand gestures, recalling: ‘I was on tour but not knowing when I was going to see him was the difficult thing.
‘He would do anything to just try and spend time with me, he would sometimes charter a tiny plane, like a two seater plane, he would come over literally for a few hours then go back.’
Yet while the pair only had eyes for each other, those on the outside were concerned about the impact it was having on the footballer and his career.
Fellow Manchester United player Gary Neville, 48, explained: ‘The lengths he was going to see Victoria, it was lot. He was like an addict! He would drive four hours to spend 20 minutes with her.
‘He was on the phone to Victoria every second, and he would stay on the phone until 1 o’clock in the morning.’
David’s mother Sandra, 74, was also concerned, revealing she intercepted calls between the pair in a bid to stop David becoming distracted.
She recalled: ‘Victoria would be away and we’d be staying at David’s house and 3 o’clock in the morning the phone would ring.
‘He had a game so I’d answer the phone and say ‘he’s in bed, asleep’ and they’d want to talk. But me being a protective mum thought ‘you shouldn’t really be ringing this time in the morning’.
‘But how can you tell them? They’re adults. I was worried he’d lose all he worked for because football come first and all of a sudden it wasn’t.’
Making an entrance: Their first meeting took place when Victoria and her bandmate Mel C attended a Manchester United game and were invited onto the pitch
Shocked: David’s teammate Gary Neville said David was ‘like an addict’ around Victoria while his mother Sandra, 74, was also concerned, revealing she intercepted calls between the pair
Sandra was right to be concerned, with David’s teammate Paul Scholes confirming: ‘David was p***ing the manager off going down to London when he shouldn’t have been.’
David revealed the first time he ever laid eyes on Victoria was when he watched the Spice Girls’ Wannabe music video, recalling: ‘I turned round to Gary and said ‘I’m going to marry that one, the posh one, the one in the black dress.’
The pair’s intense and conflicting schedule – with David at football training in Manchester and Victoria touring the world with The Spice Girls – meant that they rarely had any free time together.
Their first meeting took place when Victoria and her bandmate Mel C attended a Manchester United game and were invited onto the pitch.
Victoria confessed: ‘I am not into football at all. I wasn’t into football then, I’m not into football now. But I’d seen pictured of him in magazines and obviously he was a really good looking boy.
‘I went to the games to – some would say stalk him – I would say see him!
‘When I saw him at the footballer’s lounge, all the other footballers were at the bar but he was standing talking to his parents. I’m very close to my family and I loved that side to him.’
With both David and Victoria revealing they instantly fancied each other on their first meeting, David confessed: ‘There was something there straight away. I thought ‘ok this is it and it’s gonna move fast.”
David and Victoria went on to become a brand, gaining lucrative contracts with clothing designers, health and fitness specialists, fashion magazines, and perfume and cosmetics manufacturers.
The couple, who have four children Brooklyn, 24, Romeo, 21, Cruz, 18, and Harper, 12, have accumulated an estimated net worth of £380million.
But at the start of their relationship, Victoria was told by her manager at the time to ‘keep it under wraps’.
She confessed: ‘We would meet in car parks and that’s not as seedy as it sounds’, as David admitted: ‘The first kiss that I ever had with Victoria was in my BMW in a car park – classy!
‘For about three months we kept it quiet. Then I bought her a Cartier watch and she wore it then all of a sudden people were piecing it together. So you know, Posh and Becks.’
The couple became an instant pop culture phenomenon, with Gary describing the hype around the pair as ‘the new Charles and Diana.’
Family: David and Victoria share four children Brooklyn, 24, Romeo, 21, Cruz, 18, and Harper, 12, and have accumulated an estimated net worth of £380 million
David and Victoria even landed the cover of Vogue magazine, with editor Anna Wintour explaining: ‘I put them on the cover because my daughter was so obsessed with them so I thought the world must be!
‘When you have two equally charismatic people it doubles the volume and puts the heat factor way up.’
Describing the fanfare around their relationship, Victoria went on: David didn’t have a lot of friends at school and neither did I.
‘You go from being that kid at school who’s desperate just for a friend to all of a sudden being chased down the street. It was a novelty.’
Victoria Beckham reveals the VERY rude chant hurled at her when she supported David at his football games: ‘It was embarrassing and hurtful’
By Rebecca Lawrence for MailOnline
Victoria Beckham has revealed she was left ‘hurt and embarrassed’ when she was taunted at husband David’s football games.
The Spice Girl, 49, recalled the abuse she received as she spoke about dating the footballer after fans turned on him in the aftermath of the 1998 World Cup.
The sportsman, 48, was blamed for England’s defeat after lashing out at Diego Simeone, sparking a horrific campaign of hate and abuse from fans.
Soon they grew tired of targeting just David, with the footballer confessing in his Netflix documentary BECKHAM: They start singing songs about Victoria.
‘There was one song she’d kill me for singing – every football fan sang this song…’
Not impressed: Victoria Beckham has revealed she was left ‘hurt and embarrassed’ when she was taunted at husband David’s football games
Public enemy number one: The Spice Girl, 49, recalled the abuse she received as she spoke about dating the footballer after fans turned on him in the aftermath of the 1998 World Cup
Victoria then jumped in to reveal the taunt was: ‘Posh Spice takes it up the a**e.’
She continued: ‘Excuse my language, not very ladylike. But 75,000 people singing that, it’s embarrassing, it’s hurtful.
‘I remember sitting down and the lady next to me turned and she didn’t know what to say, she said ‘do you want a polo?’
‘Because what do you say when you sit next to someone and 75,000 people have been saying you take it up the a**e?’
Discussing the ongoing abuse she continued: ‘We did not know what to do. It felt like we were drowning.’
Yet David reasoned: ‘As horrible as it was to look up at Victoria in the stand, actually it was the one thing that spurred me on.
‘When fans thought they could get to me by singing about my family I ended up scoring a goal.’
Elsewhere in the documentary, David’s friends and loved ones recalled their shock at the extreme lengths the Manchester United player would go to in order to spend time with Victoria when they first started dating.
The pair’s intense and conflicting schedule – with David at football training in Manchester and Victoria touring the world with The Spice Girls – meant that they rarely had any free time together.
Yet David didn’t let it stop him from doing all he could to meet up during their early courtship in 1997, with the sportsman confessing: ‘I didn’t care when I saw her, how much I saw her.
‘If it was me driving down to London to see her for seven minutes, I did it!’
He added: ‘Everything about Victoria, I loved. I didn’t know she was the strong woman that she was and I like that. I don’t whether it was because I wanted her to look after me… She’s a strong, strong woman. She can be a pain in the a**e though!’
Victoria was left smitten by his grand gestures, recalling: ‘I was on tour but not knowing when I was going to see him was the difficult thing.
‘He would do anything to just try and spend time with me, he would sometimes charter a tiny plane, like a two seater plane, he would come over literally for a few hours then go back.’
Shocking: Victoria revealed the taunt was ‘Posh Spice takes it up the a**e’, adding ‘Excuse my language, not very ladylike. But 75,000 people singing that, it’s embarrassing, it’s hurtful’
Yet while the pair only had eyes for each other, those on the outside were concerned about the impact it was having on the footballer and his career.
Fellow Manchester United player Gary Neville, 48, explained: ‘The lengths he was going to see Victoria, it was lot. He was like an addict! He would drive four hours to spend 20 minutes with her.
‘He was on the phone to Victoria every second, and he would stay on the phone until 1 o’clock in the morning.’
David’s mother Sandra, 74, was also concerned, revealing she intercepted calls between the pair in a bid to stop David becoming distracted.
She recalled: ‘Victoria would be away and we’d be staying at David’s house and 3 o’clock in the morning the phone would ring.
‘He had a game so I’d answer the phone and say ‘he’s in bed, asleep’ and they’d want to talk. But me being a protective mum thought ‘you shouldn’t really be ringing this time in the morning’.
‘But how can you tell them? They’re adults. I was worried he’d lose all he worked for because football come first and all of a sudden it wasn’t.’
Victoria Beckham hits back at claims she was ‘too posh to push’ when giving birth to son Brooklyn as she opens up about her ‘unsafe’ labour and terrifying kidnapping threats they received
By Rebecca Lawrence for MailOnline
She was famously dubbed ‘too Posh to push’ when she welcomed first son Brooklyn via caesarean in 1999.
But Victoria Beckham hit back at the taunts as she discussed the birth on her husband David’s new Netflix docuseries, BECKHAM.
The days leading up to her labour were fraught, with David preparing for a grudge match against Argentinian player Diego Simeone following their dramatic showdown at the 1998 World Cup.
He flew to Italy to take on Inter Milan in the Champions League quarter final but was consumed by the fact Victoria could welcome their first child at any time.
It caused tension between the pair, with teammate Gary Neville recalling hearing the pair bicker over the phone.
Speaking out: Victoria Beckham hit back at claims she was ‘too posh to push’ when giving birth to son Brooklyn as she discussed motherhood in David’s new BECKHAM docuseries
‘They were at each other, he was distracted, ‘ Gary noted. Victoria was saying ‘if you’re not here, if you miss this birth, if you’re not back…’ and I went, ‘turn your f***ing phone off, you’ll be melted by the time we get to the game tonight.”
After a rocky start to the game, David was able to find solace in the crowd chanting his name, helping Manchester United spur on to a 2-0 victory.
He was able to make it back in time for the birth of his first child and was by Victoria’s side for her caesarean section, with Victoria quick to clear up: ‘I wasn’t too posh to push, I was told it would not be safe for me to be put into labour.’
Victoria did not specify why it would not be safe to give birth vaginally.
The couple welcomed son Brooklyn on March 4, 1999 at Portland Hospital in London, with David calling fatherhood ‘the most amazing thing’.
Yet even the prospect of welcoming his first child wasn’t enough to stop him from thinking about his image, with Victoria recalling that when she was in labour and lying in bed numb from the waist down due to an epidural, the footballer had cheekily asked if she could style his hair.
Upon becoming a father though, his priorities shifted, with David recalling: ‘I all of a sudden thought, ‘how am I going to protect him?’
‘That night Brooklyn slept next to Victoria, she said ‘come sleep on the bed with me’ and I said ‘absolutely not’, I slept with my head facing the door, because I was paranoid someone was going to steal him.
‘It’s meant to be a happy moment, and it was a happy moment of course, but I was worried. I didn’t want him to come into this life at a time when I was going through what I was going through.’
Voicing her fears for her young son, Victoria revealed: ‘We were getting kidnapping threats right from when we had Brooklyn and you can’t even explain how that feels because we couldn’t hide.
‘These are all things that are now coming back to me and I find it quite stressful now because I’ve blocked so much of it out and I think David has as well.
‘Imagine having a baby and having death threats. David had to play knowing this was all going on and I was on my own in an apartment with a baby.
‘I’d go to the games with Brooklyn and the abuse was – it’s hard to explain.’
She recalled one particularly vulgar chant from fans, in which they’d scream ‘Posh Spice takes it up the a**e’, with Victoria admitting: ‘It’s embarrassing, it’s hurtful.
Doting daddy: The couple welcomed son Brooklyn on March 4, 1999 at Portland Hospital in London, with David calling fatherhood ‘the most amazing thing’
‘I remember sitting down and the lady next to me turned and she didn’t know what to say, she said ‘do you want a polo?’ Because what do you say when you sit next to someone and 75,000 people have been saying you take it up the a**e?
‘We did not know what to do. it felt like we were drowning.’
Ironically, it was the abuse aimed at his family that ‘spurred David on’, with the footballer improving his track record.
David and Victoria went on to welcome three more children and are the proud parents of Brooklyn, 24, Romeo, 21, Cruz, 18, and Harper, 12.
Victoria Beckham reveals she was furious with husband David after he told her a photoshoot with Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé clashed with her giving birth
By Katie Hind for the Daily Mail
Victoria Beckham has revealed she was furious with husband David after he told her a photo shoot with Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé clashed with her giving birth.
The former Spice Girl had been given a date by doctors to have a C-section with youngest son Cruz in 2005 at a Madrid hospital.
When she shared the news with David he told her he already had agreed to shoot a Pepsi advert with the US superstars.
Victoria, 49, explained how she told David the good news before he said he was pre-booked.
She said: ‘What do you mean, a shoot?’
Annoyed: Victoria Beckham has revealed she was furious with husband David after he told her a photo shoot with Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé clashed with her giving birth.
Oh no: The former Spice Girl had been given a date by doctors to have a C-section but when she shared the news with David he told her he already had agreed to shoot a Pepsi advert with the US superstars (seen together)
David replied: ‘Yeah, I’ve got to do a shoot with Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé.’
Victoria said: ‘I was like, ‘Are you.. ‘Seriously, I’m about to burst, I’m on bed rest. Are you kidding me?
‘You’ve got a damn photoshoot with Jennifer Lopez who is gorgeous and not about to have a baby.’
While David was eventually at the birth at Madrid’s Hospital Ruber Internacional, Victoria said she was ‘p***** off’ when she saw a number of newspaper articles with him posted next to the two American singers.
Victoria said: ‘So I had my C section and I remember lying there, don’t feel at my most gorgeous, let’s just say, and I remember someone showing me the front page of the newspaper which was a gorgeous picture of David between Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé and the headline was ‘What would Posh say?’
‘Let me tell you want Posh would say. Posh was p***ed off.’
Elsewhere David choked back tears as he spoke candidly about his life and career in a new Netflix docu-series that reflects on his three decades in the spotlight.
The sportsman, 48, burst into the limelight at the tender age of 17 as Manchester United’s budding new midfielder, quickly earning himself the reputation as football’s golden boy and one of the most talented players of his generation.
Awkward: While David was eventually at the birth at Madrid’s Hospital Ruber Internacional, Victoria said she was ‘p***** off’ when she saw a number of newspaper articles with him posted next to the two American singers (David and Victoria at the BECKHAM premiere)
Tension: Victoria, 49, explained how she told David the good news before he said he was pre-booked. She said: ‘What do you mean, a shoot?’ (seen in their younger years in the documentary)
Yet his career threatened to be derailed when he was blamed for England’s World Cup 1998 exit after lashing out at Diego Simeone, sparking a lengthy campaign of hate and abuse from fans.
Reflecting on the turbulent period, which David faced at the age of just 23, the athlete confessed he was a ‘mess’ and left unable to eat or sleep, with his wife Victoria, 49, revealing he suffered from clinical depression and the experience ‘broke’ him.
David recalled feeling ‘very vulnerable and alone’ as he landed back in the UK to hordes of jeering spectators and negative press, with his father Ted admitting David was ‘distraught’ when he met him, saying the young sports star ‘fell into my arms and said, ‘I’ve left everybody down.”
The night before the World Cup game, David had learnt that Victoria was pregnant with their first child and after touching down in England to see his parents he wasted no time jetting off to New York to spend time with his expectant fiancée – who was touring the States with The Spice Girls.
Victoria confessed: ‘I remember not really understanding how serious it was because you know I’ve never really been into football.
‘When he came to me in America he felt he let himself down, he let his teammates down, he let his country down, he let the fans down, me – he felt he let everybody down.
‘But when he was with us Spice Girls there was protection, people couldn’t get to us, we could put a cotton wool around us.
‘I don’t think either of us really realised what was going on in the UK. He went from having that protection into absolute carnage.’
Growing emotional as he reflected on the backlash he received, David confessed: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever talked about it because I can’t.
‘I find it hard to talk about what I went through because it was so extreme. The whole country hated me.’
Detailing the horrific abuse – which became so bad that he was unable to visit the toilet unattended for fear of being attacked on the way – David continued: ‘Wherever I went, I got abused every day.
‘To walk down the street and see people look at you a certain way, spit at you, abuse you, come up to your face and say some of the things that they said, that’s difficult.
‘I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t sleeping, I was a mess.’
David, who received death threats and had effigies made in his likeness, went on to detail the impact it had on his parents, Ted and Sandra, noting: ‘It brought a lot of attention that I would never wish on anyone, let alone my parents and I can’t forgive myself for that.
‘That’s the tough part that happened then. I’m 47 years old now and I beat myself up about it still. Inside it killed me.’
As David’s teammate Phil Neville spoke out about the ‘inhumane’ way David was treated by the nation, Victoria remarked: ‘He was really depressed, clinically depressed.
‘It pained me so much. I still want to kill these people [for how they treated him].’
Victoria also took aim at the 1998 World Cup manager Glen Hoddle, seething: ‘He didn’t come out and try to protect David and how old was David, 23?
‘You’re a kid at 23 and Glen Hoddle was a man – well I wouldn’t even call him a man actually, he was an older person – I mean the absolute hate, public bullying…’
Thankfully, David was able to redeem himself when he took on Diego once again at the Manchester United vs Inter Milan Champions League quarter final in 1999.
Yet while all eyes were on David and his grudge match with the Argentinian player, David confessed his thoughts were consumed by the fact Victoria could welcome their first child any at any day because she was already two weeks over her due date when the match occurred.
It caused tension between the pair, with teammate Gary Neville recalling hearing the pair bicker over the phone.
First child: The couple welcomed son Brooklyn on March 4, 1999 at Portland Hospital in London, with David calling fatherhood ‘the most amazing thing’
Heartbreaking: Elsewhere David choked back tears as he spoke candidly about his life and career in a new Netflix docu-series that reflects on his three decades in the spotlight
‘They were at each other, he was distracted, ‘ Gary noted. Victoria was saying ‘if you’re not here, if you miss this birth, if you’re not back…’ and I went, ‘turn your f***ing phone off, you’ll be melted by the time we get to the game tonight.”
After a rocky start to the game, David was able to find solace in the crowd chanting his name, helping Manchester United spur on to a 2-0 victory.
He was able to make it back in time for the birth of his first child and was by Victoria’s side for her caesarean section, with Victoria quick to clear up: ‘I wasn’t too posh to push, I was told it would not be safe for me to be put into labour.’
The couple welcomed son Brooklyn on March 4, 1999 at Portland Hospital in London, with David calling fatherhood ‘the most amazing thing’.
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