Victoria Beckham has said that she’s been labelled everything from “porky posh” to “skinny posh” as she disclosed her experiences with an eating disorder.
Speaking in her new eponymous Netflix documentary, the former Spice Girls singer said that being in the public eye from a young age had affected her self-esteem to the extent that she began to control her weight “in an incredibly unhealthy way”.
Beckham, 51, recalled the moment she was weighed on TV six months after giving birth to her first son, Brooklyn, in 1999, and the criticism of her appearance in the media.
“We laugh about it and we joke about it when we’re on television. But I was really, really young, and that hurts,” she said.
“I really started to doubt myself and not like myself, and 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.”
Beckham said that because she had no control over what was being written about her or what pictures of her were being taken, she wanted to take control of her weight.
“I could control it with the clothing. I could control my weight and I was controlling it in an incredibly unhealthy way ... it really affects you when you’re being told constantly you’re not good enough.”
She added: “When you have an eating disorder, you become very good at lying. I was never honest about it with my parents. I never talked about it publicly. It really affects you that you’re being told you’re constantly not good enough. And that’s been with me my whole life.”
The documentary charts her rise to fame as Posh Spice, one-fifth of the bestselling girl group of all time, to when she married England footballer David Beckham at 25. It briefly touches on the band’s split in 2001, her short-lived solo music career and goes behind the scenes at her eponymous fashion label, which she launched in 2008.
Speaking in the documentary, David said that people felt it was “okay to criticise” women for their weight in the 1990s and 2000s when his wife was the subject of media scrutiny over her appearance.
He explained: “People felt that it was okay to criticise a woman for her weight, for what she’s doing, for what she’s wearing, there were a lot of things happening in TV then that won’t happen now, that can’t happen now.”
Speaking about how this affected their life, he said he remembered Victoria as a woman who sat at home “in a tracksuit, smiling, laughing, having a glass of wine”, but that started to fade due to the negativity she was receiving.
Elsewhere in the documentary, Beckham revealed the emotional turmoil she experienced when the Spice Girls disbanded and she didn’t know what to do next.
“We were like a tornado, and then all of a sudden, it stopped,” she said, calling the period “so extreme”.
“The next thing I knew, I was a wife in a flat, in Manchester, not really having any friends. Living a long way away from my family. And I found that transition really difficult.”
She added: “I know what it’s like to have it all one day, and lose it the next.”
The Beckhams share four children: Brooklyn, 26, Romeo, 23, Cruz, 20, and Harper, 14.
Victoria Beckham is streaming on Netflix now.
For anyone struggling with the issues raised in this article, eating disorder charity Beat’s helpline is available 365 days a year on 0808 801 0677. NCFED offers information, resources and counselling for those suffering from eating disorders, as well as their support networks. Visit eating-disorders.org.uk or call 0845 838 2040
