Victoria Beckham Netflix doc’s big revelations: Posh Spice to fashion

Content warning: This article contains discussion of eating disorders.

When Netflix released the 2023 docuseries Beckham, Victoria Beckham stole the show with her British humor and viral personality. Rolls–Royce moment. But the spotlight was still largely her husband's.

That changes in “Victoria Beckham,” released Thursday on Netflix. A three-part documentary series led by Nadia Hallgren, who directed “Becoming” The streamer's Michelle Obama documentary follows Britain's beloved honorary royal on her journey from awkward theater girl to pop icon and fashion mogul. The documentary is produced and built around Victoria Beckham's show at Paris Fashion Week 2024.

“It’s not about him,” Victoria says, referring to her legendary footballer husband in the opening minutes of the documentary. “It's about me.”

Produced by David Beckham's production company Studio 99, Victoria Beckham inevitably portrays its eponymous heroine in a flattering light, doubling down on her characterization as a “loser” from a working-class family. But after British TV documentaries lambasted Victoria on everything from her weight to her naivety, it feels like she deserved it.

Concerned about how a documentary about her might be received, Victoria said she was initially hesitant to agree to the project.

“At first I said no, but then I took a little time and really thought long and hard about it,” the designer said. “I was defined that way when I was in the Spice Girls, which was only a four-year period in my life, whereas I had been in fashion for almost two decades.”

“Until recently, I was aware that I still struggled with prejudice from my previous career, always being mindful of the noise and just focusing on building [fashion and beauty] brand,” she said. It was only recently that she felt she could share her story without it negatively impacting her business endeavors.

While the documentary series shys away from controversial topics such as David's story. alleged affaira potential Spice Girls reunion and rumors of the Beckhams' rift with their son Brooklyn Peltz Beckham, who, unlike his three siblings, never appears in the film, and his wife Nicola Peltz Beckham, much is still being revealed about Victoria and her rocky relationship with her Posh Spice character.

Here are seven takeaways from the Netflix docuseries.

Victoria blossomed with the Spice Girls.

As a young girl growing up in Hertfordshire, England, Victoria didn't have many friends and her self-confidence suffered as a result.

“I was definitely a loner in school,” Victoria said. “I was bullied. I was awkward. I wasn't particularly outgoing. I just didn't fit in at all.”

But the arrival of Posh Spice completely changed her perception of herself and became an important step towards self-acceptance.

“It was the first time I felt like I belonged. Suddenly I became popular,” Victoria said. “My life would be completely different if I hadn’t met these four girls.”

From Posh Spice to WAG

Victoria is often credited with creating the WAG (wives and girlfriends of famous athletes) phenomenon.

Shortly after she married David in 1999, the Spice Girls broke up, leaving Victoria without a key aspect of her personality: “We were like a tornado and then suddenly it all stopped.”

Lost without the image of a pop star, Victoria switched to the role of a supportive wife. Her public outings included attending Manchester United games and shopping for designer clothes – always in full view of the paparazzi.

“I look at these photos and smile. But when I look back and think, why?” — Victoria said in the documentary. “I guess there was an element of attention seeking, to be completely honest. It was at a time when I wasn't feeling creatively fulfilled, so that's how I stayed in the conversation.”

“I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was trying to find myself,” she said. “I felt unfinished, sad, perhaps frozen in time.”

Victoria struggled with an eating disorder

Just months after giving birth to Brooklyn in 1999, Victoria was forced to weigh herself live on Chris Evans' TFI Friday show so viewers could see if she had lost “baby weight.” She laughed it off, but the experience left her traumatized.

“I didn't know what I saw when I looked in the mirror. Was I fat? Was I thin? I don't know. You lose all sense of reality,” she said.

Unable to influence what the tabloids said about her body, Victoria said she controlled her weight instead: “I controlled it in an incredibly unhealthy way.”

Victoria said she never told her parents about her eating disorder and never spoke about it publicly. She first opened up about her strict diet and overeating in her 2001 autobiography, Learning to Fly.

“Instead of checking my posture or position at the gym, I would check the size of my butt or see if my double chin was smaller,” she writes in the book, although she denies being anorexic.

At first, the designers laughed at Victoria.

After the Beckhams moved to California, Victoria decided to seriously pursue her dream of working in the fashion industry. When news of her career turnaround broke, designers were skeptical.

And when her debut collection received surprisingly good press, she was accused of passing off the designs of her mentor Roland Mouret as her own.

“Of course there has to be a man behind it. It can't be a stupid little pop star,” Victoria said in the documentary.

Victoria, who had been passionate about fashion since childhood and spent most of her Spice Girls clothing budget on Gucci dresses, was not about to give up so easily. She kept her head down and kept working until she earned the respect of her peers.

Anna Wintour is a Victoria Beckham fan.

In 2009, Madonna appeared in a W Magazine photo shoot wearing a black zip-up dress from Victoria Beckham's debut collection. Two years later, Victoria Beckham won the Designer Brand of the Year award at the British Fashion Awards.

Even Anna Wintour admitted that she underestimated the pop star turned luxury goods designer.

“I think we can all be a little snobby in the fashion business and think that maybe it's, you know, a side hustle,” Wintour said in the doc. “But Victoria completely proved us wrong.”

Victoria's business almost collapsed

Among the most shocking aspects of the documentary is Victoria's business partner David Belhassen revealing that the designer spent $70,000 a year on office plants. (Plus another $15,000 a year for whoever waters them.)

This fact goes a long way toward explaining why the Victoria brand, although generally reputable, found itself heavily in debt even after years of investment by the designer's husband.

“Our tens of millions were in the red,” Victoria said.

When David reluctantly closed the bank, Victoria was “desperate,” she said. So she took Belhassen to court.

Baffled by the level of financial losses and the dire situation facing the Victoria brand, Belhassen initially decided to say no to Victoria. Then, by chance, his wife showed up on a date wearing a Victoria Beckham dress; Stunned by the quality of the clothes, he changed his mind.

“[Victoria] was very emotional and she told me, 'I won't let you down,'” Belhassen said.

Women's clothing for every day reported in August that the brand reached $150 million in revenue last year and was now “on track for long-term profitability.”

Posh Spice is a thing of the past

In the documentary, Victoria stated that she will always be grateful for the opportunities the Spice Girls have given her.

“I've never forgotten where I come from. I've never, ever forgotten that Posh Spice is the reason I'm sitting here right now,” she said.

But since the Return of the Spice Girls tour, the legendary girl group's reunion tour from 2007 to 2008, she's also known for the fact that her days as Posh Spice are long gone.

“It was during this tour that I realized I didn't belong on stage. It was fun, but it wasn't what I loved anymore,” she said. Since then, fashion has become her main focus and she is still hungry for success with her Victoria Beckham brand.

As Victoria tells David in the final moments of the documentary series, “I'm proud and I'm not ashamed to say that I'm ambitious and I still have a lot of things I want to do.”

“I’m not stopping yet,” she said.