DESPITE the tremendous lore around him as a footballer and pop culture figure, few have gotten the chance to know David Beckham behind the name – until now.
“Beckham”, from actor, writer, producer and Academy Award-winning director Fisher Stevens and Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning producer John Battsek, explores the former England captain’s career and private life in four hour-long episodes: “The Kick”, “Seeing Red”, “Golden Balls” and “What Makes David Run”.
Topics include his relationship with former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and 24-year marriage to Victoria Caroline Adams a.k.a. Posh Spice.
David’s social media following has rocketed, with the number increasing by almost half a million since the trailer for the Netflix documentary was released, according to analysis of Social Blade data by Casino Alpha.
The series charts David’s rise from a talented east London schoolboy to one of the world’s legendary soccer players and international celebrity. David rose to prominence as a member of Manchester United, one of the greatest professional soccer clubs in the history of the Premier League. He started dating Victoria in 1997 following her success as a singer in the popular Spice Girls.
“Beckham” shines light on Becks and Posh’s (nickname for the British celebrity super couple) lesser-known qualities while revealing new details on their relationship history in the process. It also delves into the football superstar’s humble beginnings and the internal battles he faced through the most intense parts of his career. David retired from soccer in 2013. He’s now the president and co-owner of Inter Miami football club and co-owner of Salford City football club. The former top football player is still very much a star – and so is his wife. The Beckhams have forged their fame into a vast business empire over the years. According to the Sunday Times, their net worth is estimated to be close to €500 million.
The docu was produced for Netflix by Studio 99, the media company David founded in 2019. It gives never-before-seen insights into who David actually is, including his family, friends, former teammates and his shopping and cleaning habits. The result is an unprecedented look at an icon who, despite spending nearly 30 years in the public eye, still has some surprises to share with the world.
“Beckham” shows a contradiction between the colorful, adrenaline-seeking lad and the glamour reflected in media coverage. It’s the same person who would ask his wife to fix his hair right after she gave birth in a C-section and the same man with obsessive-compulsive disorder who spends hours cleaning and organizing his home while the rest of his family are in bed and plans his wardrobe weeks in advance.
But director Stevens (also known for playing the PR sleazeball Hugo Baker in “Succession”) gradually peels back David’s layers and makes viewers want to believe in this down-to-earth guy with his peculiar hobbies and to root for him as he tends to his barbecue from morning till evening on weekends or manages his beehives.
“This is the 10-year anniversary of when I retired,” David told Netflix. “It’s not just about my football career, but it’s about my family, it’s about being married to a Spice Girl, and my journey, really. It’s been a roller coaster of emotions, but it’s been special making it.”
Hobbies
The first episode of “Beckham” shows David tending to his bee farm fully clothed in beekeeper’s attire. He collects honey very naturally and hands some over to Stevens. Outside of soccer, which David has not played professionally in over 10 years, beekeeping is just one of his many hobbies that he enjoys regularly. Another favorite pastime of David’s is to collect and assemble Legos. He unsurprisingly also loves to shop and invest in luxury items such as designer watches.
Spending habit
David discloses in the docu that he had a terrible spending habit when he first came into wealth. David is currently worth roughly $450 million so his early spending days did not do much to set him back financially. “Beckham” reveals that David’s first paychecks that he received on a Friday were typically gone by the following Saturday. He loved to spend his money on luxurious items, clothes and even a brand-new BMW M3 from an Adidas endorsement deal. Considering his humble beginnings, it’s hard to blame David for indulging in the finer things.
Prediction
Before David even met Victoria, he pointed her Spice Girls persona out on TV one day and announced that he was going to marry her. David recalled being with former teammate Gary Neville and stating that he would marry “the posh one” in the future. Neville, of course, thought he was joking and started to laugh at David’s earnestness. David soon proved to be incredibly serious about Victoria, who he knew nothing about at the time. David turned out to be spot-on with his fortune-telling and he and Victoria have been together ever since.
(Credit: PA Images)
Pregnant with their firstborn
Victoria called David to tell him that she was pregnant with their firstborn Brooklyn Joseph (who’s now 24 and married to American actress and billionaire heiress Nicola Peltz) while he was in France for the 1998 World Cup awaiting a hotly contested matchup with the Argentinian National team while she was in Brooklyn, New York, which inspired the name choice.
David was sent off during the match with Argentina, after kicking Diego Simeone – a game that England went on to lose in a penalty shoot-out. Victoria said that while she and David were both incredibly happy about the news, she did not think much about how it would affect David going into one of the biggest games of his life.
The couple are also parents to Romeo James (The 21-year-old is dating British model and fashion influencer Mia Regan.), Cruz David (18) and Harper Seven (12).
Infidelity scandal
David and Victoria’s marriage fell into very hot water when allegations surfaced about the former’s alleged infidelity with a former assistant of his by the name of Rebecca Loos, a Dutch former glamour model and media personality. Loos came forward to the press that she and David had an affair that lasted four months when he first traveled to play in Spain for Real Madrid. David has always denied the allegations and Victoria has supported him, although both admit that it was the hardest part of their marriage by far. Photographers followed their children to school and Victoria admitted she “resented” her husband for the “absolute circus” of extra media attention.
“It was the first time that me and Victoria had been put under that kind of pressure in our marriage,” David added. He is grateful that he and Victoria were able to come out of the difficult situation with their marriage intact.
Depression
David said he still “beats himself up” about the red card he received against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup. England lost the match on penalties, leading David to become public enemy number one.“I wish there was a pill you could take that could erase some memories,” he said. “I made a stupid mistake and it changed my life. The whole country hated me. Wherever I went, I got abused every single day. I was a mess.”
Victoria, who was pregnant during the months of the torrent abuse, blames England manager Glenn Hoddle for attributing the loss in his post-match interview to David’s sending-off. She told the documentary that her husband was “clinically depressed and broken” during this period.
Manchester United teammate Neville added: “It was inhumane what he had to deal with and it would have broken 99.9 percent of footballers.”
Ferguson’s disapproval of the couple’s relationship
David’s former soccer coach Sir Alex Ferguson expressed disapproval that David was starting to date Victoria Adams when he was still just a young player at Manchester United. Ferguson believed that dating a celebrity might steer David off the right path of becoming the world-class soccer player he could be. He instructed David not to take any photos together with Victoria to maintain their privacy. David obeyed and initially dated Victoria in secret, meeting in places like parks and avoiding the lurking eye of the paparazzi.
Keeping David’s feet on the ground difficult
David joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1991, making his first team debut the following year before signing his first professional contract in 1993. But it was in 1996 when he announced himself to the football world by scoring from the halfway line against Wimbledon.
Fame followed, but Ferguson had growing concerns about his celebrity lifestyle and his relationship with Victoria. “Getting the attention and becoming a celebrity was different to what I wanted,” Ferguson said. “Getting David to keep his feet on the ground became more difficult.”
David recalled Ferguson going “absolutely mental” at him for choosing a different agent than the one he had suggested. “He just wanted me to be the best footballer that I could be and to be married to a local girl that wasn’t a superstar,” he said.
As part of the Class of 92, David was part of the history-making 1999 treble-winning squad and won six Premier League titles. He attributes this to the “family” dynamic at Old Trafford and throughout the documentary called Ferguson a “father figure”. “The way he was with me from a young age was special,” he said. “He was one of the most important people in my life from the age of 12. It was a family and that’s why we had the success that we had.”
Fuming Ferguson kicks a boot at David
The documentary also addresses the infamous dressing room row of 2003 that saw Ferguson kick a boot at David. The United boss was furious after the Football Association Challenge Cup loss to Arsenal, with David reflecting: “When you see the boss’ face like this, you don’t want to be anywhere near him.”
A heated verbal exchange between the two occurred when the midfielder answered back to Ferguson and swore at him. Kit man Albert Morgan said Ferguson went “flying across in a rage” and kicked some clothes, which sent Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s boot into the air and hit David. “It was an absolute freak (incident),” Ferguson added.
David was photographed with a plaster above his eye following the incident, although Ferguson maintained it was “just a graze” and no stitches were needed. Morgan added: “I’m not going to talk about that – the only thing I will say is that I think it was stage-managed because it wasn’t even worth a stitch.”
Kidnapping threats
David and Victoria disclosed they received random threats that their newborn son Brooklyn Joseph would be kidnapped. These threats arose due to the lingering public hatred towards David after he was sent off in the 1998 World Cup. David recalled being afraid to leave the hospital, sleeping up against the hospital room door where Victoria was staying. The couple recalled how they were somewhat robbed of the joy of their first newborn because of the intense paranoia circling David and the angry public.
The time she was Angry Spice
The Spice Girls alum got candid about the time the footballer almost missed the birth of their son Cruz in 2005, due to a photo shoot with Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez. Although David was able to make it when Victoria gave birth, she was once again reminded of the infamous reason David almost missed watching their son come into the world.
“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. And the headline was, ‘What would Posh say?’ Let me tell you what Posh would say,” she continued. “Posh was pissed off!”
What’s more impressive about “Beckham” than the cast of characters though, is the honesty and sometimes painful frankness they each display when recounting the highs and lows of David’s career and marriage to Victoria.
What we’re left with in the end is a love affair honed and forged in the fires of fame, wealth, and celebrity. But the surprising thing, as it turns out, isn’t that one of the most famous athletes of our time married one of the most famous pop stars of our time. It’s that both David and Victoria possessed the strength and devotion to turn their almost childlike infatuation into a love, a marriage, and a family able to withstand anything.
