Spoilers ahead. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, David and Victoria Beckham dominated headlines all over the world. The former professional footballer and former Spice Girl were a match made in tabloid heaven when they met at a Manchester United game in 1997 and soon began dating.
The tabloid media followed their every move as they welcomed their first son Brooklyn, married in head-to-toe matching purple, became social pariahs in the aftermath of England’s 1998 World Cup loss, and then became a part of the Hollywood elite after a move to LA.
Now, the famous couple are finally telling their side of the story in the four-part Netflix documentary series, Beckham. In it, the Beckhams candidly talk about the highs and lows of almost three decades in the public eye, and the challenges their marriage has faced along the way.
Here are the biggest moments from Netflix’s Beckham:
David Predicted He Would Marry Victoria After Seeing Her On TV
Long before they met in real life, David was watching the Spice Girls on TV with his teammate Gary Neville, when he pointed at the screen and said that he would “marry the Posh one” someday.
Then, Mel C and Victoria were guests of honor at a Manchester United game in 1997.
“In the changing room before the game,” Beckham recalls in the documentary, “one of the players came in and was like, ‘There are two Spice Girls here.’ I was like, ‘Which one?’ And he said, ‘The sporty one, and the posh one.’ And I was like, ‘Great.’”
Victoria says she basically went to the game to “stalk” David. “I am not into football at all,” she explains. “I wasn’t into football then, I’m not into football now. But I’d seen pictures of him in magazines, and he was obviously a very good-looking boy … the fact I went to the games really was just to kind of, some would say ‘stalk’ him.”
The pair ended up meeting after the game and “fancied” each other straight away. “I just fancied him,” Victoria says. “It was as simple as that.”
David Tells Victoria To Be ‘Honest’ About Her Working Class Roots
In the first episode, Victoria tells the camera that she and David came from “working class backgrounds” when David pops his head in the door and tells her to “be honest.”
“Be honest … what car did your dad drive you to school in?” he asks.
Victoria replies “it depends,” before finally admitting that her father had a “Rolls Royce in the ’80s.” The moment has already turned into a hilarious meme.
David Got A Football Boot Kicked At His Head
In the documentary, David recalls the moment he told Manchester United’s manager Alex Ferguson to “fuck off” and Ferguson allegedly kicked a football boot at him. Ferguson explains that he kicked a pile of worn football jerseys in response, and a boot that was hidden in the pile flew across the room and hit David above the eye.
“It was an absolute freak [accident],” the former manager says in the Netflix series.
Victoria Told David She Was Pregnant Before The 1998 World Cup Match
Victoria explains in Beckham that she told David she was pregnant with their first child the night before the 1998 World Cup match. When asked whether she thought that would help him, she replies, “I don’t know.”
“Before the Argentina game, she phoned me and said I’ve just taken a test and I’m pregnant. So I found out then,” David tells the camera. “The first thing I wanted to do (was get out of there and be with Victoria) but I couldn’t, we were in a major tournament.”
David Was Diagnosed With Clinical Depression In The Aftermath Of The World Cup Loss
David was famously given a red card during the World Cup match with Argentina after kicking Diego Simeone. England then lost the game in a penalty shoot-out, which many people blamed Beckham for. During the following season, Manchester United’s bus was pelted with rocks and glasses during an away game in West Ham. David tells the documentary he was “abused every single day.”
“To walk down the street and to see people look at you in a certain way, spit at you, abuse you, come up to your face and say some of the things they said, that is difficult,” he says.
“I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t sleeping. I was a mess. I didn’t know what to do.”
He said that ultimately the game got him through it. “That was the only thing I could control, once I was on the pitch, then I felt safe,” he said.
“He was absolutely broken. He was in pieces,” Victoria says in the documentary. “He was really depressed … It pained me so much.”
Posh Says She Was ‘Pissed Off’ When David Was Photographed With Beyoncé & J-Lo
When Victoria was in labor with Brooklyn, David was famously photographed with Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé, who he was filming a Pepsi ad with at the time.
“I open the paper and there is a gorgeous photo of David with J-Lo and Beyonce and the headline is, ‘What would Posh say?'”
“Let me tell you what Posh would say — Posh was pissed off!”
The Couple Speak About David’s Alleged Affair
In the documentary, David and Victoria briefly speak about his alleged affair with his former personal assistant Rebecca Loos, which allegedly happened while he was playing for Real Madrid in 2003. The couple do not confirm whether the affair actually happened, but instead talk about the impact the media coverage of the alleged affair had on their relationship.
Victoria tells the camera she was “the most unhappy I have ever been” during that period. “It was the hardest period, because it felt like the world was against us,” she says.
“Here’s the thing — we were against each other if I’m being completely honest,” she continues. “You know, up until Madrid sometimes it felt like us against everybody else but we were together, we were connected, we had each other.
“But when we were in Spain, it didn’t really feel like we had each other either. And that’s sad. I can’t even begin to tell you how hard it was and how it affected me. It was a nightmare.”
David says he doesn’t know how they got through that period.
“I don’t know how we got through it in all honesty, Victoria is everything to me, to see her hurt was incredibly difficult but we’re fighters and at that time we needed to fight for each other, we needed to fight for our family and what we had was worth fighting for. But ultimately it’s our private life,” he says.
“There were some days I would wake up and I would think how am I going to go to work, how am I going to walk on to that training pitch, how am I going to look as if nothing is wrong…I felt physically sick every day when I opened my eyes.
“How am I going to do this?”
Beckham is now streaming on Netflix.
This story originally appeared on Refinery29 Australia.
