If, like us, you’ve been binging Netflix’s newly released Beckham docuseries celebrating the life and legacy of former footballer David Beckham, then you already know that the juicy four-parter is crammed full of intimate details that go well beyond the football legend’s career.
From dishing the details on his first kiss with Victoria to addressing the difficulties the couple faced amid his former PA’s allegations against him, Beckham offers us never-before-seen insights into the ultimate celebrity power couple. And it’s all from Becks’ own perspective.
Whether you’ve watched it yet or not, we rounded up 10 of the biggest revelations from the series.
They were – and still are – the ultimate A-list couple. Footballer meets fashionable pop star. So how did it all begin? In the first episode, Becks reveals that it was love at first sight. He remembers watching the Spice Girls on TV when he turned to his friend and colleague Gary Neville to point out Posh Spice and say, “See that one there? I’m gonna marry that one.” Then, when they met at a football game for the first time, there was a mutual attraction as they both declared that they immediately “fancied” each other.
The relationship would progress fast. But the twosome kept things very private in their early stages, meeting up in obscure places. “The first kiss I ever had with Victoria was in the BMW in the car park,” Becks laughs in the doc. “Classy.”
Becks had a modest upbringing, with his mum being a hairdresser and his dad being a kitchen fitter. But when he started earning money – after making his first-team debut with Manchester United at just 17 – the overnight football star started splashing his cash around. “I like nice stuff,” he said on the show.
Former teammate Phil Neville added that David would “get his salary on a Friday and then spend it on Saturday – all”. The footie legend admitted that when he signed a contract with Adidas for US$61,000, he immediately “went and bought an M3” car – for US$61,000.
In one of the episodes, Victoria says of the couple, “We both come from families that work really hard. Both of our parents worked really hard. We’re very working class.” Until she gets interrupted by her husband who chimes in, “Be honest: what car did your dad drive you to school in?”
She eventually admits, “OK, in the 80s my dad had a Rolls-Royce.” Perhaps Posh might need to look up the definition of “working class” again …
Becks’ career had its low moments too. During the 1998 World Cup game between England and Argentina, the then-23-year-old midfielder received a red card for apparently deliberately kicking a competing player during the match. With the team down to 10 men, the youngster was singled out for blame by fans when England eventually lost the gruelling, infamous game, and crashed out the tournament. “I felt very vulnerable and alone. Wherever I went I got abuse every single day,” said Beckham.
A protective Victoria said in the Netflix docu that she believed her husband suffered depression from these attacks. “I mean, the absolute hate, the public bullying, [was] another level,” she said. “He was depressed, absolutely clinically depressed. I still want to kill these people.”
“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,” said Victoria in the series, remembering the birth of the couple’s first child in 1999.
“Imagine having a baby and having death threats?” she added. “David had to play knowing this was all going on and I was on my own in an apartment with a baby.” Becks said that he would sleep by the door after his son was born out of fear someone would come and take his newborn.
“So, I had my C-section and I remember lying there, I 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,” she recalled on the show. “And the headline was, ‘What would Posh say?’”
She goes on, “Let me tell you what Posh would say: Posh was p***ed off!”
Although Posh and Becks gained plenty of notoriety and are still beloved by many pop culture fans globally, it’s difficult to forget the time when they became public enemy No 1 due to Becks’ big mistake on the World Cup pitch.
Football fans wouldn’t let it go. In the Netflix series, Posh recalls one derogatory fan chant that sprang up during this time, which doesn’t bear repeating.
Probably the biggest revelation to come out of the Netflix docuseries is the Beckhams’ acknowledgement of the controversial affair allegations that were made two decades ago against David.
In 2004, when David was in Spain and Victoria was in London, a tabloid report alleged that Becks was having an affair with his assistant Rebecca Loos. Although these allegations were denied, it did cause some tension in the Beckham household. “It was the first time that me and Victoria had been put under that kind of pressure in our marriage,” David said.
Victoria added, “I can’t even begin to tell you how hard it was and how it affected me.”