People Magazine has some quotes from Victoria Beckham at the Glamour Women of The Year Awards earlier this week. (Kaiser covered the fashion here if you’d like to see more!) Usually I kind of gloss over Beckham’s interviews but I have to say that her comments really resonated with me. She talked about how she sometimes feels guilty being a working mom, and how her friend, Diane Von Furstenberg, talked her right out of that. (How I wish I could be able to wear Furstenberg’s dresses regularly, but I digress.) I really like how she explained it, like you’re setting a good example for your kids by being a working mom. Beckham also discussed her charity work with the U.N. in Africa, for which she was being honored at the event. I didn’t even know she did work with the U.N. but maybe that’s because I don’t pay enough attention to her. Here’s more:
Beckham not only being honored for her fashion-business success, but for her work as an International Goodwill Ambassador with the United Nations’ AIDS program.
“You know, it’s huge,” she said. “When UNAIDS invited me to be a UNAIDS Global Goodwill Ambassador, it was a huge honor and something that meant an enormous amount to me. This is something I’m very passionate about,” she said. “I’m spending a lot of time in Africa working very closely with the U.N., speaking on behalf of the incredible women that I’m working with and it took me getting to 40 years old to realize I have a powerful voice.”
“People will listen to what I say for whatever reason, and I can really make a difference,” she added. “It means a huge amount.”
Beckham also reflected on some of the best advice she’s received from another woman, revealing that it was fellow fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg who left a lasting impression on her.
Beckham said she confided in von Furstenberg about guilt she was feeling for working while she has four children at home.
“For me, I was having dinner with Diane von Furstenberg a few months ago and she’s a woman I have an enormous amount of respect and admiration for,” she said. “I said to her, ‘Diane, when your children were younger and you were working, did you feel guilty?’ And she said, ‘Absolutely not. It’s a waste of time, a waste of energy, it’s aging.’ And she said, ‘Actually, you’re setting a good example with the fact that you’re a women, you’re going to work. You really are setting a good example…’
“And that was great advice because I’m sure there are lots of women right now watching TV who are thinking, ‘I feel guilty. I’ve got kids and I’m going to work.’ Actually, it is a positive message to be given to your children and to other women and children as well.”
Victoria and David Beckham have four children: sons Brooklyn, 16, (shown with his mom in these pictures), Romeo, 13, Cruz, 10, and daughter Harper, four. I only have one child, a son in fifth grade, and I constantly feel guilty for working – and I work from home! It does bleed into my night hours and I have to tell him “I can’t right now, I’m working.” I tell myself that this job allows me to spend more time with him, to drop him off and pick him up from school and to go to events. It must be so hard to work out of the home eight hours a day or more and to commute on top of that, but so many of you do it. This is a great attitude to have, that you’re setting an example by providing and showing your kids that careers are important.
Here’s a link to a speech which Beckham gave in front of the U.N. last year. She said that she had made her first trip to South Africa, that it had changed her perspective and that she’s a “passionate supporter of women” and believes “that everybody has the right to a healthy life.” I really like what she said about how she realizes she can make a difference with her voice. I wish more celebrities realized this.
photo credit: WENN.com
Whoa, somebody’s had some work done.
I cringed at all of the faces she’s making up top. And I’m guessing these are the “good” pictures. That being said – good for her! I have constant mom guilt and my little guy is 11.
I was just coming on to say the same thing!
She looks really good, imo. She has gotten better looking since her Spice Girls days.
Given the subject matter of this story, it’s really sad that the first comment is still about her looks.
I’ve come around to really admiring her. She never pretends to be the best, with a Special Gift and a Dream that Extra-Hard Believing made possible. I really like that it’s hard work and commitment that have helped her achieve her success in the fashion world, and that she’s honest about it. Also, the way the Beckhams talk about each other, they just seem so supportive and in love with their family that I have bought and drank their Kool-Aid, and love it.
Same here.
She could have remained “Posh Spice” or “David Beckham” wife, but she choose her thing, and she worked hard to achieve her own success.
And kudos for her charity work.
I like her for the same reasons. She works hard for what she has.
I also saw some of her dresses recently and I really liked them. But they are too expensive for me.
Still, that controversy with super-skinny models is no good. I hope she comes to realize the error of her ways. It is obvious she starves herself as well.
Agreed. There is something admirable about working hard and admitting it. I’m so tired of the “i wake up like this,” and “I’m a master baker,” blah blah blah
I’ve always liked and admired her. She had a short lived reality show aloooong time ago and she’s was hilarious. At the time she was accused of being a vapid, non smiling, empty headed fashionista. She was well aware of her rep and mockingly played it to the hilt. I thought she had a healthy self awareness of who she was/is and wasn’t desperate to change perceptions.
On the now rare occasion she gives TV interviews she’s always funny and quite chatty, very different to the image the press has painted of her. Out of all the Spice Girls she was the shyest one – even when she went solo she was sorta in the background. I like the red dress she’s wearing (I know its one of her own designs).
Have always loved her. She is a good role model, both she and David have done a lot over the years for various charities. They give a lot back and could teach the Buckets a thing or 5 about using your celebrity status to help others.
PS I think she’s had her teeth done.
I like her, and I like her comeback from #1 WAG to what she is now. I just hope she were more secure. The posing, the no smiling.. Girl, chill. Nobody is perfect!
I think she’ll be smiling more now, with the new choppers and all. I am surprised that it took her so long to get rid of the NHS teeth, and go the pearly white route, albeit they are too big. On a side note I am always shocked to see David Bowie’s teeth, he had the worst case of NHS teeth for a long time in his early career. It’s amazing what a difference teeth can make to a face. More power to them, if it is good work, a shame when it is not.
Have always liked VB. She seems to work hard and is a good mother to her children. You don’t see her falling down drunk or acting ridiculous in the press. And if the rumors are true that David was unfaithful years ago, she kept her head held high and didn’t let it faze her (although I would have divorced him TBH).
I totally agree with the message about being proud to work and setting a good example for one’s children. I respect SAHM immensely for all the work they do, but I could never do it. I love working too much.
That is a fab face lift.
Don’t know if its work done or she has an actual face expression and we just don’t see it very often on her. Only seems really noticeable in the 1st pic.
I have never liked her much and I don’t like her clothes either but I do admire the points she makes here. I still side eye any celeb though on issues like “I am a working mother” because their money affords them a level of help most of us can only dream of. Yes she is away from them when she works, true, but then she doesn’t have to also spend hours cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and dishes, all the things the rest of us do in addition to work. Plus – she owns the bloody business – who is going to ask her to stay longer, come earlier, work through lunch, take only two weeks off, and oh I don’t care if your kids are sick, you still have to be at your desk at 8:00 am??
Also, I will side eye anybody who gets their kid a cushy well paid modelling gig just based on their name, as she did. And wait – what do you want to bet Harper will be a model too?
> ‘Actually, you’re setting a good example with the fact that you’re a women, you’re going to work. You really are setting a good example…’
Great point. For women to have choices in life they have to be able to support themselves. That means working and not relying on somebody else for livelihood.
Victoria is right. My mom worked like a dang slave for us kids and, as a result, passed on an amazing work ethic to us. Even though not one of us is a college graduate, we hold positions that usually require degrees. How? We work our @$$e$ off. Now my kids have added getting degrees to their plan after seeing me taking college classes online while working 2 jobs. They are just teens but both are working already. Kids need to learn from an early age that they need to work for what they want and they need to take charge of their lives. IMO Victoria is doing an outstanding job with her young men. They all seem to be total gentlemen!
My take on the mom guilt is always: if its ok for men to do it, it should be ok for women. In other words, if it isnt right, it isnt right, or, its wrong, but NOT jsut for women only. BOTH parents ought to have equal and shared responsiblities.
Therefore if men work and it is praised as providing for the family, women ought to be praised for providing for the family too, and men ought to be criticized for not spending time with their children– if that is the case.
In todays culture, really few women will be staying home. it isnt enough anymore to have only 1 income. and even so—- women ar emore than mothers!! Since many decades. how long until the “mysterious social pressures” catches up?
–And I add my support to the many others who say, it is grat that women are self-reliant. it never sets a good example to teach children that women just sponge off of others and do nothing but somplain about dishes and laundry all day. That is a miserable existence to impose on any woman!! And no one ought to shame a woman for seeing through such a structure as utter nonsense….
If a dvorce happens, what will happen to the kids? Who will provide for them? How will the woman be able to buy food, pay rent? Lets get real— so many people divorce, and there is nothing but uncertainty to rely on someone else when you can very well be earning your own fulfilling living.
It’s not sponging though and that’s a terrible way to see it. I know a guy who didn’t want his wife to go back to work because it would have hurt his career. He was able to quickly work his way up the corporate ladder while guys with working wives were held back because childcare responsibilities often took them away from work. Her taking on all the household and childcare responsibilities financially benefitted him so she has a right to see those earnings as hers as well. She has since gone back to work but only after he’d secured a managerial position and the kids were older and had become more independent. Not everyone has family around that can help out with the kids. They were both immigrants with no help and having her stay home for years has made them quite well off.
My husband and I had a similar situation. He graduated from college at 28 with little work experience because he had to work full time while going to school. He got a job at a small IT consulting firm. The pay was low due to his inexperience. He quickly worked his way up to a top consultant because we were childless and he could work late. Most of the other guys were dads and couldn’t put in the hours he could. When we had our first child I stayed home because I could do freelance work. My husband was able to continue to devote himself to work and now has a six figure income. This income allowed him to buy a business which is even more income. At first the business meant he was gone a lot but that was ok because I was home. He’s now partnering with some other people to buy two more businesses. I’m itching to go back to work but I can’t because he’s gone too much and we have no family around. It’s just me and him. Having two people working isn’t always the best thing financially depending on your circumstances. We live in an area with a high Asian population and most have their parents live with them. Both husband and wife can easily work long hours because the grandparents do all the childcare and housework. It’s easier to excel at work when you don’t have home responsibilities taking you away from your job.
@May, I had an au-pair for a few years. It is a great option. They live with you and they can drive kids around to different activities.
It is about 20 thousand a year, obviously, expensive, but a great option for people without family close by.
I really like vickie B but to put the working mother thing into perspective, her husband is extremely hands on. She never was. Don’t be fooled by the soccer game pap shots. David does the most with the children. Its all too much for her. She also had nannies and her own parents living with her on and off until very recently to pick up the slack when her husband was away with his soccer career.
Vickie had and has plenty of help. Its not like she is working 16 hours a day and has a bunch of latch key kids fending for themselves and she feels really awful. By the way, I have zero working mother guilt with my 6 year old. I also never felt any guilt when I formula bottle fed my baby when he turned 4 months old. When my other mummy friends were falling apart over it. I must be weird.
I wish my own mother had focused more on her career and taken pride in it. As she likes to remind us on the regular, she chose teaching (even though she hates it) to be closer to us. That kind of intense focus is suffocating and guilt-ridden. Not a fan.
And I will always love VB because she has an ON POINT Donald Duck impression.
Is she suggesting though that stay-at-home moms are setting a bad example? I think on working versus staying home, each family has to decide for themselves what works best for them. I don’t think either option sets a bad example.
I think SAHMs are very hardworking people. And this is what these women/ men want to do it is perfectly fine.
With one caveat – they need to have a plan for what happens if they divorce, how are they going to support themselves and the kids? Divorce can happen to anyone.
What EN said 10000000 times over.
Her comment is simpistic. There are women who were raised by working moms who stay home with their own kids and women raised by SAHMs who would prefer to work. Kids react differently to things, so the lesson learned will vary from child to child.
I generally don’t have an opinion on her, but I like what she’s saying here. Having things outside the home that she cares about too, and running her own business, are both excellent examples for her all kids. She seems to be able to balance it with quality time with her kids, and I never got the impression she is neglectful or absent from their lives.
I’m usually clueless about plastic surgery other than to think, “Hm. She looks different,” but I distinctly remember that her nose used to turn up at the tip.
Yep. Harper has her original nose.
“I’m a mom, I feel guilty that I’m working?”
All the parents I know are thinking “I have children. Thank god I’m working so I can put food on the table.”
Love Victoria. A talented designer as well.
Hmmmm….Katie and #normalbill should read her comments about have in Voice and using it to do good in the world. They might learn a thing or two.
Someone once told another woman in regard to her mom guilt: “You can go out and become successful at your job so you can provide for your children–put food on the table, a roof over their heads, money in the bank for their future, or, you can stay constantly by their side–be there for their every waking hour, wipe away every tear and hug away every fear, and you can all starve together.” I’d like to think that the options are not this extreme for many women, but if one had to make a choice, isn’t it clear?