Victoria Beckham is one of the best parts of the Beckham docuseries on Netflix. She’s interviewed separately, chiming in stories about her husband’s life, and she’s just great. You can really see and hear about all of the storms they’ve weathered and how they managed to stick together. It made me feel differently about both David and Victoria, and I understood their marriage more too. Well, Victoria covers the latest issue of Allure, and she talks about the series but mostly she’s just talking about her own stuff, makeup, being bullied, her kids, etc. It’s a good interview.
On being bullied as a child in school: “I’ve never really told my story about being the underdog at school. I was bullied — a lot.. .I never fitted in socially. And when anybody is different, kids can be really mean. I remember being mentally bullied, physically bullied, literally pushed around.”
Raising her children to be kind to others because of her own experience with bullying: “I have always said to [my daughter] Harper, ‘If you see a little girl sitting on her own in the playground, that was your mum. Go up and talk to that little girl…My entire school life was a misery, an absolute misery. Kids can be bloody horrible. I would never, ever allow my children to treat anybody like that. I know everybody thinks their kids are angels, but my kids are genuinely very kind. That’s the most important thing, isn’t it?”
On working hard just to be “less-than-average”: “I’ve always had to work really hard. At school, I had to work really hard to get less-than-average grades. When I was dancing and singing, I had to work really hard to be good, but was never good enough. I was an alright dancer. I was an alright singer. People were very quick to say, ‘You can’t sing.’ I can joke about it better than anybody. I’ll take the mickey out of myself…I mean, obviously, I could sing a little. But I always had to work very hard just to be okay at anything. That’s why the Spice Girls worked: Individually we were underdogs, but collectively we worked.”
On what she would never leave the house without: “I test everything. If you were to say, ‘What are the two items you don’t leave the house without?’ BabyBlade Brow. I’m obsessed with brows — my husband has never seen me without my eyebrows. And Instant Brightening Waterline Pencil to make my eyes look more awake. Makeup is my thing. Probably the only thing I was any good at in school was art.”
On watching the final scene of the Beckham documentary: “I cried when I saw the last scene of the documentary. It was an emotional experience. Then when you look at our journey and us dancing [to “Islands in the Stream”] in the tent…”
On their youngest son, Cruz’s, reaction to the documentary: “Cruz, our youngest son, said, ‘Wow, I had no idea Dad was so good at football.”
Re: her kids’ kindness… after the Beckham docuseries, people were like “how did their kids end up so unmotivated with zero hustle?” But I get it – David and Victoria went through hell and back with the British media and all of the traveling, and they still managed to raise four healthy and relatively well-adjusted kids. Their priority was never “raising another generation of excellent footballers” or whatever, they just wanted to raise kind and gentle kids. And I think they did that. Also: “my husband has never seen me without my eyebrows” – she’s said that before and I get a kick out of it every single time. She’s really applying her eyebrows before David wakes up every morning.
Photos courtesy of Sølve Sundsbø for Allure.com, received via promotional email.
David and Victoria didn’t need to push their children to be anything because they knew they had the money and fame to get them into anything they wanted to do.
Raising a trust fund kid who does no harm is a (small) achievement in itself.
Yes. But they don’t want to seem to do anything.
My children want to try everything and it’s heartbreaking because we can’t afford it.
It seems like the greatest luxury in the world to help your kids follow their interests, learn what they are interested and passionate about and help them through classes and tutors and travel to grow more deeply into themselves.
Also – did she say the same thing to her sons? To go to the child sitting alone? Or only her daughter since girls apparently are the only bullies.
I mean, how do you know? There are interests separate from celebrity spaces, and maybe they enjoy hobbies, but don’t have *one thing* that they’re really into. That’s perfectly normal and human and well-rounded.
@Moxie think Harper is the only one still in school, her brothers are all 18 or older.
But they Did. They “pushed” / encouraged their kids to be kind. They did this surrounded by larger environments that don’t reward kindness — including some that regard kindness as synonymous with weakness. (See Trump, Donald among many). Good on them. I applaud their values. Their considerable efforts seem to have been successful.
And air cabin crews have reported how mannerly the children are and how they’ve lined up to shake hands and thank the crews after flights.
I believe the eyebrow thing. David stays up late trimming the candle wicks and straightening the rug fringe, and VB wakes up early to apply her eyebrows. These two have found their lobster.
Years ago I saw these two interviewed by Barbara Walters. I thought they were so cute together–dumb but sweet & perfect for each other.
I love her makeup line, it’s so good. I just wish I were rich and could order it all. I have a special little make up bag I keep her products. My VBB shrine.
I remember back in the day how the tabloids were so dismissive of the footballer and the pop star. That it would fizzle out, and they were hounded. They really weathered the storms, happy to see them in such a good place and so dedicated to each other.
Nonsense shes a doormat who stayed through bullsh!t
Her makeup line goes on sale periodically. I got 20% off during a black friday sale and scored some new eyeliners and eyeshadows. Highly recommend checking her website for sales. I am in love with her eyebrow pencil (best I ever used), eyeliners, and eyeshadows. I used to love Mac eyeshadows, but now I am a convert.
Its her makeup line that is starting to make money for her company – it is very good, I have the signature eye shadow and want the tuxedo one as well (but I resist as I have way to much makeup as it is). The mascara and lip sticks get very good reviews so they are on my list.
Also I covet the perfume – the bottles are soo cute, i want on just for the bottle.
I would have never recognized her with those newly inflated lips.
That’s what I was thinking….
Yeah…they do stand out. Ah, Victoria, still not fully comfortable in her skin.
Didn’t David cheat on her and talked about how thin she is to his affair partner? I don’t understand why their relationship gets so much praise. If she was the one who cheated, no way David would stay or people would praise their marriage. It also makes me sad now to learn she was bullied in school and her husband doesn’t miss any opportunity to make fun of her online. I don’t think, she does the same to him.
I don’t think anyone thinks they have a perfect marriage or if he cheated or not. Not every marriage must end in divorce over it. People can get forgive get counseling and come out the other side stronger. And who knows if she cheated, if she did she was clearly less sloppy about it.
I don’t think anyone can come out of cheating with the relationship authentically “stronger.” I don’t believe anyone who says it…they are not being honest with themselves. BUT they can recover and find happiness again. It will never be what it was though. It is tarnished forever by cheating.
What he said about her to his lovers was worse than the affair itself IMO! That would have made me upset and leave instead of the affairs themselves knowing how he truly felt about me.
I actually don’t think what he said to his affair partners are his true feelings. He was in a fog and trying to keep the drug of the affair flowing. Cheaters are full of it
I think some men are bored sadly with whom they have conquered and complain to justify the said affairs with others who are new to be conquered. They live for the chase.
Bullying is just awful.
In MN the schools have a huge PR anti- bullying campaign for several years now, which is all PR.
My area has had repeated acts of bullying where the victims are hospitalized, etc. on top of the verbal harassment that is never reported.
It continues. And the schools continue to do little but claim they don’t tolerate it.
Heartbreaking.
D&V have been together for decades, Brand reasons or not, I think they will stay together.
Their kids have every advantage on the Earth, and yet seem to have no ambition or urge for education. But, they are not falling out of Limos, coked to the gills as far as I know. Talk about a low bar.
Bullying is awful. But schools can’t magically fix larger societal problems. Between a political process that publicly aggrandizes bullying, and socio-economic values that reward competitiveness like winner-takes-all cage fights, it’s asking a lot to expect schools to create completely new cultural values that function perfectly for 6-8 hours a day. Children show what they know. While schools should continue to receive support for teaching pro-social skills, their influence will be limited unless the wider community— from families, neighborhoods, social media, entertainment, to the country as a whole — also display and truly value something other than competition and “winning”, which in the US is often measured by money, power, and perceived dominance.
As to the kids, since the oldest is only 24, I personally, will hold off on judging their ambitions and urges until they’ve had a bit more time to develop them.
Maybe I’m old and I just don’t get it, but what are these pictures supposed to be saying? They’re very weird to me.
were people referring to all the kids as lazy/unmotivated or just Brooklyn? Near as I can tell from Brooklyn’s “career path” and apparent belief he’s earned those things, he definitely seems lazy/unmotivated to do the work necessary to learn and gain experience in a field before gaining some celebrity that deserves the attention and opportunities he gets
Romeo has had setbacks in his football career, did some training in tennis but did go back to football and is playing but isn’t being pushed as a star player (sure he trained and played a bit for his dad’s Inter-Miami team and then got loaned to BrentfordB which has now signed him to a 1 year contract)
Aren’t the younger two still in school?
I feel like at her age, she is at risk for osteoporosis. We don’t talk about this enough regarding middle aged women, but it is a sad reality for some. David seems to complain endlessly about how she eats the same things. He stated that she was only a fun eater when she was pregnant and he could share his food with her finally. I found that revelation very sad.
My cousin is a PT. He talks a lot about how women don’t know they have osteoporosis and then take a fall and their bones shatter to sharp shards.
He says he’s had patients that were just bags of organs and bone shards with some skeletal scaffolding. Nightmarish.
God I need to start taking better care of myself.
So tired of hearing celebs talk about they “never fit in”
Can we just accept the fact that everyone feels disconnected at sometime in their growth and development?
The tale is soooo tired…
It makes me sad that food is her enemy. It’s food. Just food. But eating disorders turn it into EVERYTHING. The fear of food and fat is like a parasite, sucking the joy out of living.
Eating disorders are a terrible thing.
She always hit me as one of the (sadly, many) celebrities who used plastic surgery as a substitute for what they really need, which is therapy.
I find it strange that Brooklyn married the very antithesis of a “kind” person. Nicola Peltz has been outed as a vicious brat with her family’s staff, a bridezilla, a snotty little nepo mean-girl of the worst kind. I think the rumours of her not getting along very well with Victoria are true as I’m sure, because of her early bullying, Victoria can sniff out a mean-girl bully a mile away.
I see that all the time. When someone grew up in a family where everyone behaves themselves, they get more attracted to “mean” types because from the outside, it seems like they are strong, not people-pleaser, and know how to stand up for themselves. I imagine, Brooklyn has been taught to be always nice and kind to everyone especially due to tabloids searching any dirt on them, then he saw Nicola who doesn’t give a sh*t about other people’s feelings and we have love at first sight.
He married someone who he thinks NEEDS his help. And she probably think he NEEDS her help.
I hope neither one gets hurt but if anyone does it will be him.
There have been lots of stories of Victoria going into shops and refusing to speak to the shop workers. The whole conversation had to be relayed through her assistant. She’d whisper something to the assistant, the assistant repeated it to the shopworker and so on for the whole time she was there. This is the first I’ve heard of Victoria being “nice” or “kind”.
An air hostess said when Brooklyn was a teenager he put his hand up and said “my dads David Beckham. Get me (such a thing, whatever it was)” .
“Wow, I had no idea Dad was so good at football.”
This was my favorite line.
Also this comment on Twitter when the Beckham doc first came out:
“I can’t believe celebrities looked beautiful but also were, like, good at things back then”
(Paraphrasing)
People are moaning about the kids being unsuccessful or lazy when the oldest is still in his mid-twenties, and the two youngest are still teenagers. How many of us had our shit together by 25 and were rapidly climbing the career ladder? I still hadn’t figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up when I was that age and was futzing about semi-aimlessly. They have enough money they never need to figure it out, but seem at the very least to not be assholes – so are already in a better place than 90% of their socio-economic peer group.
When the Beckhams lived in LA, one of their sons (I forget which one) was on a soccer team w/son of a friend. One of my besties who lives in a different world than I do. She said the Beckhams and their kids were lovely. They brought son to practice/picked up every single day. A lot of the parents had a driver or nanny pick up kids. So this is second – hand information but it fits with what the documentary revealed.
Re: bullying: My oldest daughter was bullied in elementary school and she continues to struggle because of it. One of my biggest regrets as a mom is I did not take action sooner to get her out of the situation. Words hurt and cut like a knife.
I will piggback your comment.
I was bullied almost everyday. The kids would use me to distract from them not getting the work. Plus I was different.
My advice to anyone reading this is to give it a try for a few weeks and then look into alternatives. Most of the time it never gets better. You aren’t toughen up your kid. They aren’t learning conflict resolution. All that’s happening is they are learning disfunction.
If I could redo life I would get a GED at 14-16 and enroll in a Community College. No one cares about high school once you have degrees and certificates. Especially if you are at an underperforming school.
Isn’t Victoria one of the Spice Girls who never sang?
I’ve worked with Victoria’s brand team in the past, and she is shockingly down-to-earth, self-deprecating and funny. I believe completely that she lacked confidence growing up despite being what most people would consider beautiful, thin, and rich. She’s just a little tiny bit…nerdy. I’m pretty judgmental honestly, and I get a kick out of her. She’s also smart as hell. A lot of celebs with fashion/cosmetics brands let their teams do all the work, but she is extremely hands-on and asks intelligent questions.
I like her too. I feel like she’s a hoot to be around.