How Posh and Becks survived mockery, intrusions and persistent rumours

SARAH VINE: How Posh and Becks survived years of mockery, intrusions and persistent rumours

You don’t have to know much about football to know a lot about David Beckham. He and his wife Victoria have been a celebrity couple – some might argue THE celebrity couple – for almost three decades, ever since they first got together as ‘Posh and Becks’ at the height of Cool Britannia in the mid-1990s.

Considering, as he once said, she picked him out of a soccer sticker book and he chose her off the telly, they’ve not done badly, despite persistent rumours about his infidelities.

Whatever the truth about all that, they have stuck together, and, with their four children, have built an empire that most working-class lads from Leytonstone could only dream of.

I’ve met Beckham numerous times, as a fellow parent on the touchline on many a rain-sodden football pitch, as our boys once played in the same West London league. 

Beckham, now 48, with wife Victoria were THE couple in the celebrity couple for almost three decades and have to overcome many obstacles in their marriage

Beckham previously said about choosing each other in his autobiography: ‘My wife picked me out of a soccer sticker book. And I chose her off the telly.’ 

Beckham was the very opposite of the pushy soccer dad, unfailingly kind, cheering other people’s children with just as much enthusiasm as his own and always quick to console a tearful defeat.

He also dealt with the constant intrusions from the public with impeccable charm and politeness.

Even in the pouring rain, he’d sign autographs, listen to people’s life stories and pose obligingly for selfies with the patience of a saint.

READ MORE: Weight-training with Victoria, the perils of ageing and his love of Lego: David Beckham reveals all ahead of his new Netflix documentary 

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When I asked him how he coped, he said it wasn’t always easy, but that he felt he had a responsibility not to disappoint.

Now a much wider audience is about to get a glimpse of the real Beckham in a Netflix documentary series, starting on Wednesday.

Filmed over two years, it not only delves into some of David’s darkest moments (in particular that infamous red card against Argentina in 1998) but also seeks to gain some insight into why he has transcended the sport that made him famous, and become an icon of the modern age. Part of the reason is undoubtedly the alchemy between him and his wife of almost 25 years.

In the pantheon of 1990s pop culture, they both represented that wannabe spirit, present across all areas of culture, from film to art to fashion, in which being young, cool and working-class was the ticket to everything.

From Kate Moss to Tracey Emin, from Oasis to film-maker Danny Boyle, the world couldn’t get enough of plucky people with talent, big dreams and even bigger attitudes. It was exciting, authentic, edgy.

This was the age of ‘mockney’ accents and Common People, the great flowering of the New Labour dream of breaking down long-entrenched class barriers.

Nearing 50, Beckham (pictured) said certain parts of aging ‘aren’t great’, like his body aching after getting up in the morning, but it doesn’t bother him

The fact that ‘Posh Spice’ Victoria’s parents ran a successful electronics wholesale business, and that her father embarrassed her by dropping her off at school in his Rolls-Royce resonated with that classless narrative.

READ MORE: Emotional David Beckham says he didn’t ‘sleep’ or ‘eat’ after he was blamed for England’s World Cup 1998 exit 

Her wedding to David, during which they ascended purple thrones, was conducted entirely without irony.

Posh and Becks were the real deal – Cockney king and queen of this brave new world.

At the time, they were mocked for their presumption and lack of taste. Victoria was derided for her hair extensions and breast implants, for her ‘chavvy’ dress sense and for the fact that she always struck the same pose in photos, and never smiled.

He was mocked for his rather high voice, his sarong, silly hairstyles and countless tattoos.

Mistakenly, people dismissed him as a bit thick, something he is most definitely not but which may have played to his advantage in certain situations.

Despite all this, they ploughed on, starting a family and taking up residence in ‘Beckingham Palace’, a 12-acre Hertfordshire estate which they eventually sold in 2014 to purchase a £40 million townhouse in fashionable Notting Hill.

By then, Beckham had retired as a player and was very focused on the children.

After having four kids with the former Spice Girl – Brooklyn, 24, Romeo, 21, Cruz, 18, and Harper, 12, – the football legend already has a lot of ink in dedication to his wife and kids

Victoria (pictured here on one of the four Netflix episodes) reveals that her husband was suffering from depression after his red card against Argentina in 1998 World Cup

Beckham said the soon-to-be-released Netflix show is the only one he intends to make, adding that his grandchildren could maybe tell the story for him (pictured here with Victoria)

He seemed to fit in easily with the ‘yummy mummies’ at the fee-paying schools their kids attended, mixing effortlessly at the school gate with the wives of hedge-fund managers – a hands-on, ever-present dad. Victoria, by contrast, was more withdrawn, perhaps as a result of needing to focus on her fashion brand. The fact that they are now the subject of a global TV documentary is, I think, testimony to their enduring appeal and their place in British culture.

It’s not just that they embody the aspirations of so many people – designer-clad proof that anyone can succeed regardless of their background provided they put their back into it.

It’s also that for all their difficulties and challenges, the Beckhams have stuck together, found a way through and come back stronger, not just as a couple and a family but also as a worldwide brand which, at the last count, was worth £425 million – despite losses from Victoria’s clothing brand (which we are now told has turned a corner).

In short, they are still living their dream. And the public, it would seem, are still buying it.

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