Victoria Beckham has opened up about her battle with an eating disorder in her new Netflix documentary, revealing that public scrutiny of her weight from a young age led her to control her eating in an 'incredibly unhealthy way'. The former Spice Girls star, now 51, said she was labelled everything from 'porky posh' to 'skinny posh' as the media criticised her appearance.
In the documentary, Beckham recalled being weighed on television six months after giving birth to her first son, Brooklyn, in 1999. '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. She described how the constant negativity caused her to doubt herself and lose all sense of reality when looking in the mirror.
Beckham explained that because she had no control over what was written about her or pictures taken, she sought control through her weight and clothing. 'I could control it with the clothing. I could control my weight and I was controlling it in an incredibly unhealthy way,' she said. She admitted that having an eating disorder made her 'very good at lying' and that she never spoke about it publicly or with her parents.
The documentary also features her husband, former England footballer David Beckham, who said that in the 1990s and 2000s, people felt it was 'okay to criticise a woman for her weight'. He recalled that Victoria used to be a woman who sat at home 'in a tracksuit, smiling, laughing, having a glass of wine', but that this began to fade due to the negativity she faced.
Elsewhere in the film, Beckham discussed the emotional turmoil after the Spice Girls disbanded in 2001, leaving her as a wife in a Manchester flat with few friends, far from her family. 'I know what it’s like to have it all one day, and lose it the next,' she said.
For anyone struggling with the issues raised, eating disorder charity Beat’s helpline is available 365 days a year on 0808 801 0677.
