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Victoria Beckham never really shies away from the spotlight. But in her new self-titled Netflix documentary her vulnerability is laid bare.
As a life-long Spice Girls fan, Victoria wasn’t my favourite in the group – I never found her to be particularly relatable.
That’s all changed since diving into the world of brand Beckham in the new three-part series. I would go as far as saying Victoria has taken the crown as my all-time favourite celebrity – and one A-listers can learn a thing or two from.
The fly-on-the-wall documentary, from the Emmy award-winning directors of her husband David’s series BECKHAM, gives viewers a front row seat as we watch Victoria evolve from a self-proclaimed ‘loner’ child to preparing for her Spring/Summer show at Paris Fashion Week – the biggest of her career so far.
From life as a WAG (a term which she clearly loves to hate), to guest interviews with the likes of Anna Wintour, Tom Ford, Donatella Versace, and Eva Longoria, as well as a very candid look inside her family life with David, the documentary is Victoria being brutally honest and immensely funny throughout, a side to the 51-year-old I’ve waited decades to see.
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In the first episode she struts into VB headquarters like a woman on a mission and everyone’s favourite colleague. Gleefully greeting staff and joining Zoom calls, she casually discusses her weekend doing hot yoga in a ‘vagina-shaped tent’ before getting stuck straight into work at her fashion and beauty empire.
But it isn’t all vain promotion for her luxury brand. Victoria is deeply personal throughout all three episodes, detailing everything from misogyny she’s faced in her career, to massive financial woes within her business where she was left ‘millions in the red’, and an eating disorder.
Reflecting on her time in the massively successful girl band, Victoria hails Geri Halliwell, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm and Emma Bunton for helping her ‘accept’ who she really was, admitting she ‘didn’t fit in’ and ‘desperately wanted to be liked’ when she was younger.
I must admit, hearing Victoria speak about how turbulent her younger years in the group were is a hard pill to swallow. Spice Girls fans look back on the 90s with so much joy and nostalgia. I questioned how one of the women who created Girl Power could be struggling with such deep-rooted self-hatred.
But it all starts to click in the second episode titled Kill the Wag, when Victoria addresses something which has unfortunately plagued her entire career – her weight. Disturbing headlines referencing her appearance are shown before a man on TV calls for her to ‘starve to death’.
I watched with my jaw on the floor. I knew the remarks about Victoria’s body have been rife and cruel, but I put myself in her shoes during that very moment and wondered how on earth she’s managed to cope.
She responds by recalling the moment in which she was weighed by Chris Evans on live TV during TFI Friday in 1999, just six months after giving birth to her first child, Brooklyn. ‘I was really, really young. And that hurts. I really started to doubt myself because I let it affect me.
‘I didn’t know what I saw when I looked in the mirror… you lose all sense of reality. I’m just very critical of myself. I didn’t like what I saw.’
Everything you need to know about Victoria Beckham’s documentary
What is the documentary about?
The documentary series gives viewers a front row seat as Victoria
prepares for the fashion show of her life. From the teenager who restyled her school uniform, to the Spice Girl who fought to be accepted by a notoriously demanding fashion industry.
How many episodes does the series include?
The documentary comprises of three episodes: Who Does She Think She Is?, Kill the Wag, and Show Day.
What has Victoria Beckham said about it?
Victoria said the process of making the series has turned her into a ‘reformed control freak’.
She said: ‘When I did my master interviews, of which there were quite a few, it was the first time I’ve ever been forced to look back.
‘Sometimes it made me smile, sometimes it was frustrating because I’m trying to remember things that maybe I’ve blocked out, there’s a few triggers along the way.
‘This has been like a year’s therapy for me. 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.
‘I haven’t had the control with this documentary that I have with most elements of my life, and I feel much more content coming out the other end.’
It’s a side of Victoria we’ve never seen before. Unafraid as 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. It really affects you when you’re being told you’re not good enough. And I suppose that’s been with me my whole life.’
Victoria isn’t playing around about her past and far she’s come. There’s a sense of being incredibly in touch with her privilege.
She sternly recalls a comment from bandmate Mel B which clearly touched a nerve: ‘It did upset me… it was Melanie B who said: “don’t forget where you’ve come from”. I have never forgotten where I come from. I’ve never, ever forgotten that Posh Spice is the reason I’m sitting here now.’
The series also shines a light on David and Victoria’s 25 year marriage, a love which is palpable through the screen. While Victoria regularly pokes fun at the former footballer (a joke about his ‘magnificent cock’ while discussing their farm animals, and warning him not to get his fake tan on her white jacket) their marriage is clearly stronger than it’s ever been. David is fiercely protective of his wife and it shows.
A feud with son Brooklyn means a sense of anticipation builds as you await a bombshell explanation in the final scenes about his noticeable absence from the documentary. But beyond flashbacks to their earlier years living in America, the eldest of the Beckham children doesn’t appear at all, and I’m glad.
It’s finally time for Victoria to have her moment.
Victoria Beckham is streaming on Netflix on 9 October.
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