Footballer David Beckham’s four-part documentary on Netflix, titled Beckham, gives a detailed account of his illustrious and controversial life, both personally and professionally. In the series, the former British soccer star and his wife, the former Spice Girl, Victoria Beckham, address his alleged love affair with his personal assistant, Rebecca Loos, in 2003. Beckham also reveals about suffering from clinical depression after he was single-handedly blamed for England’s loss in a crucial match against Argentina during the 1998 Football World Cup.
In 2003, Rebecca Loos claimed that she and Beckham were in a relationship for four months, while he was already married to Victoria. Beckham then dismissed the allegation as “ludicrous”. In the docu-series, Victoria calls it the “hardest time” of her marriage, as besides the world being “against them”, the two of them were against each other too.
Victoria said in the docu-series, “It was the hardest period for us because it felt like the world was against us. And here’s the thing, we were against each other if I’m being completely honest. Up until Madrid, sometimes it felt like us against everybody else but we were together, we were connected, we had each other. But when we were in Spain, it didn’t really feel like we had each other either. And that’s sad. I can’t even begin to tell you how hard it was. And how it affected me.” She continued by calling that phase of her life a “nightmare” and “an absolute circus”.
To see his wife hurt, was the worst sight for Beckham. It was the first time that both of them were “put under pressure” in their marriage.
He said, “Victoria’s everything to me. To see her hurt was incredibly difficult. But we’re fighters. And at that time we needed to fight for each other, we needed to fight for our family. And what we had was worth fighting for.” He added that while the rumours around his relationship with Loos were at peak, “we were not only losing each other but drowning”.
However, the couple stuck together in the ‘difficult’ time and came out of it triumphant. They recently celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary.
Victoria Beckham with David Beckham. (File)
In the second episode of the docu-series, the former footballer also reminisced about the difficult times when he was removed from a crucial 1998 World Cup match after kicking an Argentina player. England lost that match to Argentina and also got kicked out of the tournament. Beckham bore the brunt for it, alone.
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Fans abused him and spat on him on the roads. His effigy was hung from a noose outside a London pub. The constant hatred made Beckham “vulnerable” and he suffered from clinical depression.
Victoria recalled, “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 added, “I wish there was a pill that you could take that could erase certain memories. I made a stupid mistake. What I went through was so extreme. The whole country hated me. It changed my life. I felt very vulnerable and alone. Wherever I went I got abused every single day.”
David Beckham and Victoria tied the knot on July 4th, 1999. (David Beckham/Instagram)
David Beckham’s mother Sandra holds a grudge against the then-manager of the England team, Glenn Hoddle, for her son’s condition as after the match, instead of supporting him, he blamed Beckham for the team’s loss publicly. Sandra said in the documentary, “Hoddle is on my hit list… of people that upset me. I thought, ‘What have you done?’ He made it that it was David’s fault.”