Victoria Beckham has revealed what really went down when Geri Halliwell – now Horner – abruptly quit the Spice Girls at the height of their fame.
The 51-year-old designer and former Posh Spice spoke candidly about the 1998 split in a new interview, saying the rest of the group were blindsided when Halliwell simply didn’t show up one day.
“She just left,” Beckham said during an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast. “I was on the phone to Geri this morning about something different and we even laughed about it. She just left and we had no idea until she didn’t turn up. We can laugh about it now but at the time we were like, ‘OK.’”
The Spice Girls – Beckham, Horner, Mel B, Mel C and Emma Bunton – formed in 1994 and went on to become one of the most successful pop acts of all time with hits including Wannabe, Say You’ll Be There and Spice Up Your Life.
Horner’s exit in 1998 sent shockwaves through fans and the music industry. The remaining four finished their world tour before announcing a hiatus two years later. All five later reunited in 2007, again in 2012 for the London Olympics, and in 2019 for a sold-out UK stadium tour – the latter without Beckham, who chose to focus on her fashion label.
That Wembley finale saw Horner publicly apologise for walking away two decades earlier, telling fans: “I’m sorry I left. I was just being a brat. It’s so good to be back with the girls that I love.”
Now, nearly 30 years after their debut single Wannabe, the Spice Girls are reportedly pushing ahead with a new project – a Netflix biopic about their rise to fame – despite Halliwell allegedly trying to block it.
According to The Sun, Mel B, Mel C, Bunton and Beckham have invoked the group’s informal “rule of four”, allowing them to proceed without unanimous agreement. Each member would reportedly net around £1 million from the drama, which stalled last year when Horner withdrew her support amid an ongoing feud with Mel B.
Insiders claim Ginger Spice rejected the lucrative offer amid rumours that she and husband Christian Horner were exploring a separate fly-on-the-wall series following his recent Red Bull controversy.
A source told the publication: “Geri has been dragging her heels for almost a year and the rest of the band are keen to plough ahead. Next year marks 30 years since Wannabe and they want to celebrate properly.”
