David Beckham Was "Like an Addict" After Meeting Victoria, Teammate Says
"He’d drive four hours to spend 20 minutes with her," a friend says in the documentary Beckham.
While many celebrity relationships come and go, David and Victoria Beckham have been married for 24 years and are famous for their lasting connection. Now, the beginning of their relationship is being explored as part of the new Netflix documentary Beckham (out Oct. 4) about the soccer player's life and career. As reported by the Mirror, the docuseries includes comments from David about his early days with Victoria, as well as comments from his former teammates, including one who says that David was "like an addict" when it came to the Spice Girls singer.
Read on to see what David and his friends had to say about his love story with the fashion designer and to learn more about their marriage.
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Victoria and David got married in 1999.
Victoria and David first met in 1997 when she attended a Manchester United game while David was on the team and ended up giving him her phone number. But, even before this, the footballer had expressed interest in Victoria after seeing her with the Spice Girls on TV. During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2008, he recalled, "I was in a hotel room with my best friend, who was my best man at my wedding. And I remember turning around—before I'd even met Victoria—and said, 'I want to marry that one … The one in the black dress, the one with the bob.'"
The two actually did get married two years later, in 1999, four months after they welcomed their first child, Brooklyn Beckham. Since then, they have welcomed three more children: Romeo, Cruz, and Harper Beckham.
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A teammate said David acted "like an addict."
In the new docuseries, David's former Manchester United teammate Gary Neville talked about what it was like watching David fall for Victoria. Neville was the friend who David he was going to marry the Spice Girl—the best man in their wedding.
"He was on the phone to Victoria every second," Neville says in the series (via the Mirror). "He would stay on the phone till one in the morning. It was like an addict. He'd drive four hours to spend 20 minutes with her."
Another teammate, Paul Scholes, says, "We knew David was pissing the manager [Alex Ferguson] off. I think he was probably going down to London at times when he possibly shouldn't have been. And the manager wouldn't have that."
Ferguson is interviewed in the documentary, as well. "He changed, there is no doubt about that," he says of David. "The media attention and becoming a celebrity was different from what I wanted. Getting David to keep his feet on the ground became more difficult."
David's mother was concerned.
David's mother, Sandra West, says in the documentary that she and David's father, Ted Beckham, worried that her son's new relationship with Victoria could affect his soccer career. At the time, Victoria and David were in their early twenties.
"We'd be staying at his house and three o'clock in the morning the phone would ring," Sandra recalls in the Netflix show. "I'd answer and say he is in bed asleep and they'd want to talk. Me being the protective mum thought, 'You shouldn't really be ringing this time in the morning.' But how can you tell them, they are adults." She adds, "We were worried he would lose all he worked for. Because football came first and all of a sudden it wasn't."
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The new documentary will address cheating rumors.
During his marriage, David has been accused of cheating on Victoria, including with his assistant Rebecca Loos in 2003, which he denied. The Netflix docuseries will cover these claims.
Director Fisher Stevens told The Sunday Times (via The Independent), "It wasn't pleasant, but we got into it. For me, I approached it as, 'How did your marriage stay together?' and you'll see how he responds. I talked with both of them about the difficulties they went through."
David and Victoria have both opened up about why their marriage has lasted.
Given that they've been married for nearly 25 years, David and Victoria have often been asked if there's a "secret" to their marriage's staying power.
During a 2017 episode of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs (via Mashable), David said of why their relationship works, "I think because we're a strong family unit. We've got strong parents; we were brought up with the right values." He added, "Of course you make mistakes over the years, and we all know marriage is difficult at times and it's about working through it, and whenever we've come up against tough times, you know, we know each other better than anybody knows us."
As for Victoria, in 2022, she told Grazia, "And they said it wouldn't last! From the minute we got married—and here we are about to celebrate 23 years." She said that the secret is "that [they] have so much respect for each other." She added, "David is an incredible dad, and husband, and he's very supportive of my work. We are really good partners."
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