Victoria Beckham’s new Netflix documentary signals a massive departure for the Spice Girl-turned-designer – now, she’s not fighting anymore and simply telling her truth, claims an expert
As Victoria Beckham opens up about a “dark, dark time” in her life which she says pushed her to breaking point as she battled to save her ailing fashion business, a PR expert exclusively tells OK! that her new documentary, which she consulted King Charles on, marks a ‘turning point’ for the star as she decides to just be ‘real’.
The former Spice Girl recalls going to work in tears as the stress of trying to establish her style empire amid spiralling debts took its toll. Speaking in her new three-part Netflix docuseries, simply titled Victoria Beckham, she says, “I almost lost everything. I used to cry before I went to work every day because I just felt like a firefighter.
“It was like a snowball that was going down the mountain. We were millions of pounds in the red. I didn’t know what to do and I was so desperate to save this business that I cared so much about. I felt, if I’m being completely honest, like I was breaking down myself.”
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Posh, 51, admits husband David frequently had to bail her out financially – reportedly to the tune of £30 million on one occasion – putting pressure on their relationship behind closed doors.
“Yes, I’m going home to my husband, but I’m going home to my business partner as well, and so I would talk to him about it,” she recalls. “I had to – he was invested. And I hated it. I absolutely hated it.”
Even Sir David, 50, confesses to feeling the pressure as his wife’s passion project swallowed up cash. “I was panicked by it, because I never saw anything coming back,” he admits. “And eventually I was like, ‘This cannot continue.’”
But Victoria managed to turn things around – in August this year it was reported that her company, Victoria Beckham Holdings, had grown by 22% over the previous 12 months. “I was constantly told I wasn’t good enough in my youth and as a young adult, so I’m proud of what I’ve achieved,” she says.
Elsewhere, Victoria opens up about struggling with an eating disorder at the height of her Spice Girls fame, explaining how a lack of control over her career led to her making unwise decisions with food.
“I could control my weight and I was controlling it in an incredibly unhealthy way,” she admits. “When you have an eating disorder, you become very good at lying. And I was never honest about it with my parents. I never talked about it publicly.”
According to talent agent and PR expert Dermot McNamara, we are seeing a “very different side to Victoria” in her new documentary. “She’s finally letting the mask slip a little and has opened up about struggles she’s faced behind the polished facade,” he says.
“For years, she’s been seen as this unshakable, picture-perfect woman, but what comes across this time is how much she’s had to fight to keep everything together. She talks about the darker moments. It’s easy to forget how much she risked to reinvent herself from pop star to designer and she has been refreshingly honest about the sacrifices along the way.”
Victoria also reveals how falling for David – and having children Brooklyn, 26, Romeo, 23, Cruz, 20 and Harper, 14 – wasn’t initially part of her plan.
“I was never the young girl growing up that dreamt of getting married and dreamt of being a mum. It wasn’t until I met David that those things even occurred to me,” says the star, who began dating the former Manchester United legend in 1997. “When I met David, I’d never felt that connection with anybody before.”
For David, 50, those intense feelings were immediately reciprocated and he admits he “fell hard and fell quick” for the then-pop superstar.
“When I met Victoria, I couldn’t find one thing about her I didn’t like, not one thing,” he says. “I mean, I could find a few now! Back then she was this mythical person. I wanted everyone to know I was dating Posh Spice. And within two years of being together, we were married with one kid.”
What’s particularly touching, continues Dermot McNamara, is how husband David’s support “shines through it all”. “The two of them seem stronger than ever after everything that’s been said about their marriage over the years,” he says. “They seem to be each other’s anchors – she’s finally allowing people to see that softer side of their relationship.”
While there’s no mention in the show of the Beckhams’ alleged fallout with eldest son Brooklyn, he and wife Nicola are pictured, fleetingly, as they arrive at Victoria’s Paris Fashion Week show just over a year ago. In contrast, daughter Harper takes centre stage as she is filmed trying to teach her mother how to dance.
There are plenty more lighter moments in the show. Quizzed about her reputation as a “miserable cow that doesn’t smile”, she jokingly blames husband David.
“I’ve looked miserable for all these years, because when we stand on the red carpet, this guy [Becks] has always gone on the left. Now, I didn’t realise that when I smile, which I do, I smile from the left – because if I smile from the right, I look unwell. So consequently I’m smiling on the inside, but no one ever sees it, so that’s why it looks so moody.”
Dermot believes the documentary “captures Victoria at a turning point”. “She’s been through so much heartache privately, particularly with the distance that’s grown between her and Brooklyn, but instead of shutting down, she’s showing a side of herself that’s more open than ever.
“Victoria has spent the past 30 years being increasingly guarded and it’s refreshing to see her lean into that vulnerability. The message seems clear, she’s done trying to prove herself, now she just wants to be real.”
And while you might expect Posh to have found baring her soul a challenge, she describes making the Netflix doc as “like a year’s therapy”. She jokes, “I feel that I went into this process calling myself a control freak and I’ve come out the other end a reformed control freak.”
Source: Mirror
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