I know more about the Beckhams than my family. I’ve seen their ups & downs first hand & know the secret to their success
THEY said it would never last.
Twenty-five years married later, “they” have been proven very wrong.
Over the past quarter century, David and Victoria Beckham have been through more highs and lows, drama, excitement and, crucially, scrutiny than most celebrity couples do in a lifetime.
Some of that scrutiny has come from me.
As a showbiz reporter for 20 years, the Beckhams have been the gift that keeps on giving.
I know more about them than I do about most of my own family. Were I to go on Mastermind (unlikely), unquestionably Posh ’n’ Becks would be my specialist subject.
I have seen first hand the couple’s ups and downs — and make no mistake about it, there have been downs — but as a team, they are unbreakable.
The term “Brand Beckham” is bandied about by their critics as if, were it not for their combined earning power — £455million and counting — the ink would have long ago settled on divorce papers.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Four children impeccably brought up — I’ve met/engaged with them all, including a brief loo encounter with Harper, 12, at David’s big Netflix premiere last year — they are polite, charming and very sweet.
Because family is everything to the Beckhams.
Their respective parents, Sandra and Ted on David’s side, and Jackie and Tony on Victoria’s, were strict but loving role models. They are now doting grandparents to Brooklyn, 25, Romeo, 21, Cruz, 19 and Harper.
At The Sun’s Who Cares Wins awards a couple of years ago, I was tasked with chaperoning Sandra. She is a force to be reckoned with — and utterly brilliant.
Rows and tension
“Give me that bottle,” she quipped, as I offered her a glass of Champagne. “There’s that Piers Morgan, I could quite happily bottle him. He’s been so mean about my David. I hate it.” [Sorry, Piers. I think she was joking].
“Everywhere we go people want a selfie with David,” she sighed. “I don’t know how he copes with it the way he does, he says yes to everyone, and always with a smile on his face. But he can’t really go out on his own any more. It’s exhausting to watch.”
She’s a matriarch, and one of the reasons David has been brought up to behave incredibly respectfully to women.
His relationship with Harper — kicking a football with her in the back garden, taking her to school, holding her hand when most pre-teens would rather do anything but be seen in public with their dad — is beautiful.
So what of Goldenballs himself?
Well, he smells AMAZING.
The first time I met him, in 2012 for the launch of his new pants range (truly), I felt myself fan-girling. It was embarrassing.
He was very sweet and pretended not to notice. I told him he smelt great.
Inexplicably, I went on to ask him if his photoshoot pictures had been touched up to make him look, well, better endowed.
Around four years ago, something shifted inexplicably, and intrinsically
“Erm, I don’t need any help in that department, I’ve never padded out my underpants,” he replied, politely.
Goldenballs indeed.
A few years later our relationship soured.
With rumours of marriage difficulties, I wrote a few stories David hated. For a while I was Team Victoria.
After one such story, the following day I received a panicked phone call from a member of David’s team.
“David is livid,” the call started. “He’s asked for your number, and you can expect a call in the next hour.”
I was on a train to Bath with intermittent signal. I spent the next two hours in a state of near meltdown, going in and out of tunnels (and signal). I frantically rehearsed my soliloquy, aiming for contrition mixed with standing by my prose.
‘David and Victoria were going through it’
In the end, a call never came. Who knows if it was a tunnel or David calming down.
Either way, things for the next couple of years were tense, and I dreaded bumping into him at an event.
Whatever the truth, in 2018 and 2019, there’s no question in my mind David and Victoria were going through it.
Stories of rows and tension were ramping up, and in public they looked tense. It’s worth noting, however, that not once did their united social-media front wobble. To the outside world, it was business as usual.
But then, around four years ago, something shifted inexplicably, and intrinsically.
Like any loving, determined and in-it-for-the-long-haul couple, privately they worked through whatever problems they may or may not have been having and weathered the storm.
Suddenly the Instagram posts came thick and fast, and the love, humour and mutual mickey-taking — something only a pairing in a “good place” would ever do — were there for all to see. For the past few years David and Victoria Beckham have fallen ever more in love.
A psychologist might describe the duo as “co-dependent”.
I just think they love the bones off each other. And when they exchanged those OK-sponsored 1999 wedding vows, they meant every word when they pledged to love each other in joy and sorrow, in sickness and in health, and as long as they both shall live.
As for Victoria, she wears her heart on her sleeve.
Despite being one of the most famous women on the planet, she has — until relatively recently — been bafflingly shy on camera.
Her trademark pout isn’t, as people for years believed, because she’s a stuck-up madam, it’s because she was deeply insecure about her smile. Today she is smiling more than ever.
Their smash Netflix documentary allowed the public to see the other, lighter, deeply witty side of VB. And her Instagram posts — both those promoting her now hugely successful beauty business, and her more personal ones — are filled with humour and a new lightness.
I first met Posh Spice in 2008, when my former showbiz column partner and I were invited down to her Battersea studios in South West London to do an interview for the launch of her fashion brand.
She was friendly and open . . . until, that is, my poor colleague was handed the hospital pass of asking her if rumours she was pregnant were true. They weren’t. She was visibly furious, from then on directing her answers, tight-lipped, to me.
Our paths memorably crossed three years later at Elton John’s Oscars bash in Los Angeles.
Victoria was on fine form, and drinking Champagne with gusto.
For a couple who once craved the limelight, they no longer do
At one point I heard my name being bellowed. I looked over and saw Posh in the queue for a portaloo.
“Oi, Clemmie!”, she cackled. “Come over here for a selfie!”
I made the poor woman do a “Posh pout” with me, and she duly sent it to her pitball publicist at the time, with the accompanying message.
“I’ve met this lovely girl at Elton’s, and am telling her all about me and David!”
“BACK OFF BIATCH”, came the text message on my phone approximately one nanosecond later. We had a lovely chat, and in the spirit of off-the-record journalism I didn’t print a word.
Three weeks later I saw VB at a high-end fashion awards do, where she was picking up her first ever gong. I galloped over excitedly, THRILLED to be seeing my new BFF again.
Alas, Victoria acted like our touching encounter had never happened and shrugged me off.
Ah, showbiz.
Victoria ‘more aloof with the media’
From here, Victoria became — understandably given the relentless press speculation — more aloof with the media, more wary and less inclined to engage. Which is fair enough.
She favoured publications such as Vogue and Vanity Fair over the Red Tops as she drove to reinvent herself — brilliantly — as a fashion doyenne.
Today her designs are worn by everyone and anyone (Meghan Markle, Michelle Obama and Jennifer Lopez are all fans of her work and a recent collaboration with Mango made her accessible to the masses).
At the Netflix premiere, Victoria was back to her brilliant, approachable, hilarious self. “I haven’t seen you for ages, Clemmie!”, she said, warmly hugging me.
I told her I’d become a fan of some of her more obscure beauty treatments, including the world’s most painful facial, Morpheus 8, which she swears by.
We talked about gym workouts — she trains, hard, at least five times a week — and she was down-to-earth, warm and clearly the happiest she has ever been.
In 2024, with David turning 50 next year and his glamorous cougar, Victoria, already hitting the milestone in April, the couple are older, wiser . . . and more nauseatingly in love than ever.
I’m told they are shunning a big celebratory knees-up to mark the anniversary, having a small family dinner at home instead.
For a couple who once craved the limelight, they no longer do. They really do have nothing left to prove.
Here’s to the next 25 years.
Congrats! From James Corden
I FIRST met the Beckhams about 15 years ago, and the best compliment I could pay them is that they’re the same people now as they were then.
They are so consistent – with each other, and really, really consistent with their friendships.
Obviously I know more about the David side on that front, but they are incredibly thoughtful and kind.
It’s an amazing achievement, particularly in the world in which they live, to be together 25 years. In Hollywood years, that’s about 150.
I’ve nothing but love, respect and admiration for both of them. And I think the best thing that came out of the Netflix documentary being on is that Victoria’s so funny. She’s got such a wicked sense of humour and that’s just so great to be around.
David and Victoria had a pre-Christmas dinner at their house, with about 20 people, and it was such a great evening.
Everyone was having such a nice time and I remember Gordon Ramsay being like, “We should do this again! We should do it tomorrow. Is everyone free tomorrow?”
And we were all like, “Er, yeah!” And he went, “Right, everyone round ours tomorrow.”
It was brilliant. Because what they’re so great at is creating environments for people to feel comfortable in, that’s their greatest skill. They know how people feel when people meet them.
They know how people look and feel in their presence, and they are wonderful at creating environments – whether it’s for friends or strangers – where people feel comfortable. That is a real 7 skill. They are just brilliant.
Congrats! From Gordon & Tana Ramsay
TANA and I have known David and Victoria for over 20 years, our kids have grown up with their kids.
We’ve shared holidays, games nights, road trips, beach walks, campfires and endless dinners as friends and as family.
The real testament to their partnership is their children – lovely, kind and gracious. We’ve been lucky enough to see them grow up into amazing young people, and David and Victoria should be so proud of everything they are because of their great parenting.
We’ve laughed through the highs and cried through lows in a friendship of more than two decades, but mainly we’ve laughed.
There is so much joy in their family, 20 years of making happy memories, oh, and plenty of wine along the way too!
We are blessed to call them dear friends as 7 they celebrate such a milestone anniversary.
Congrats! From Mel B
TWENTY-FIFTH anniversary, wow! Congratulations to them. They are such a strong couple.
When they first got together we were this really tight girl gang, and any boy coming into that was going to get put through the ringer and get a strict vetting. But we loved David.
Back in those days they were besotted, but I think they are even more lovey-dovey in how they look at each other nowadays.