He’s one of the most famous footballers in the world but n a new documentary David Beckham has finally told his story in his own words.
Beckham, a four-part Netflix documentary series, is billed by the streaming service as 'an intimate portrait of a man as well as a chronicle of late-modern sports and celebrity culture'.
News of the documentary came last summer, when Netflix announced that it was partnering with Succession star, Fisher Stevens, who won an Oscar for his 2008 film The Cove, to peel back the curtain on one of England’s most famous faces.
Of course, with unprecedented access to those who know him and his family the best, Beckham is inevitably brimming with revelations, most notably about David and Victoria's highly-publicised relationship.
David recalls seeing the former Spice Girl on television on television for the first time. ‘I turned round to Gary [Neville] and I said, “See that one there, I’m gonna marry that one”,’ he says. ‘And kind of when you know we’re laughing and joking, I’m like, “No, I’m gonna marry that one. The posh one in the black dress”.’
David and Victoria met at a charity football match in 1997, when he was a 21-year-old Manchester United player, and she was one-fifth of the world’s most famous girl band. ‘I just fancied her,’ David continues. ‘There’s just no other way to put it.’
In a bid to avoid the paparazzi attention that quickly began to circulate their relationship, the pair went to great lengths to not be photographed together, advice that came from Victoria’s manager telling them to ‘keep it under wraps.’
This meant they spent a lot of their early relationship meeting up in carparks, and even had their first kiss while parked in his BMW.
The documentary also deals with the allegations posed by Rebecca Loos, David’s former personal assistant, who alleged in an interview with the News of the World in 2004 that she had had a four-month affair with the footballer while he was married to Victoria. The claims were never corroborated and were dismissed by David at the time as ‘ludicrous’.
Speaking of that period of their lives, David says that he and Victoria felt that amid all of the narratives circulating in the press about their relationship, ‘we were not only losing each other but drowning’.
When Stevens asks how they survived that time period, David tearfully replies: ‘I don’t know. I don’t know how we got through it, in all honesty.’
When also asked whether it was the hardest time in her marriage, Victoria says: ‘A hundred per cent. It was the hardest period for us because it felt like the world was against us.’
Victoria also confirms in the documentary that she revealed the news of her pregnancy with Brooklyn to David the night before his infamous red card moment in 1998, when he was issued one for kicking Argentinian player, Diego Simeone. England went on to lose on penalties and crash out of the World Cup tournament.
Victoria says that David, who was just 23 at the time, became clinically depressed by the hate he received after being sent off during the match.
She says: ‘I mean, the absolute hate, the public bullying, to another level. He was depressed, absolutely clinically depressed. I still want to kill these people.’
Beckham is available to stream now on Netflix.
Naomi May is a freelance writer and editor with an emphasis on popular culture, lifestyle and politics. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard as its Fashion and Beauty Writer, working across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Acting News Editor at ELLE UK and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others.
