Victoria Beckham’s much-anticipated Netflix documentary landed this morning — and it doesn’t disappoint.
Across three compelling episodes, director Nadia Hallgren takes viewers on a journey through the many lives of Victoria Beckham.
Tracing her evolution from an awkward misfit to a member of the world’s biggest girl group, a tabloid obsession, and a respected designer — the documentary intertwines Beckham’s past with the tense lead-up to her September 2024 Paris Fashion Week show, her most important yet.
Following in the footsteps of husband David Beckham’s Netflix documentary success, Posh tells her own story with insight from Anna Wintour, Eva Longoria, Tom Ford and more recognizable faces. Here’s everything we learned from watching.
1: She was the “uncool kid” at school
Before she was Victoria Beckham, she was Victoria Adams — a shy girl who didn’t quite fit in at school.
In the first episode, Who Does She Think She Is?, we meet a young Victoria tap-dancing in a bright yellow outfit and top hat to If My Friends Could See Me Now from Sweet Charity.
“That uncool kid that was awkward, that was me,” Beckham, now 51, says. A self-confessed West End obsessive, she found escape through performance, using the stage to be someone else while navigating bullying and isolation at school.
“I was definitely a loner at school. I was bullied. I was awkward, I wasn’t particularly sociable,” she recalls.
Though she dreamed of attending an American theatre school, she settled for local dance classes near her home in Hertfordshire, UK. She often admits she wasn’t the best singer or dancer and never envisioned herself in a band — but her love for dressing up led her to audition for a girl group that would change her life forever.
While others performed Madonna or Whitney Houston, the 19-year-old auditioned with a rendition of Mein Herr from Cabaret.
“I think I’m more eccentric than I ever really realized. Either that, or I’m just bat s*** crazy,” she laughs over footage of her teenage self belting out the number.
2: She’s proud of her Spice Girl Beginnings
Spice fever sweeps the globe as girl power becomes the only currency that matters after the band’s formation in 1994.
Victoria describes finding true belonging with Melanie C, Melanie B, Emma Bunton, and Geri Halliwell.
“Spice Girls made me accept who I am and what I am and how I look,” she says. “It was the first time I ever felt that I belonged. All of a sudden I was popular. My life would be very different if I hadn’t met those four girls.”
The film revisits the hysteria of screaming fans and sold-out tours, charting how her identity evolved into that of the fashion-forward Posh Spice.
A sweet moment shows her dancing with her daughter Harper, 14 — she’s also mom to Brooklyn, 26, Romeo, 23, Cruz, 20 — as she passes on the same confidence the group instilled in her.
“I tell Harper every single day — you follow your dreams and be who you are,” she says.
Later, she recalls Melanie B telling her, “Don’t forget where you came from” — a comment she took offence to, and refuted that she has never forgotten how Posh Spice got her to where she is today.
3: She once nearly offended Donatella Versace
While the other Spice Girls weren’t fussed about haute couture, Victoria quickly earned a reputation for her glamorous Gucci looks.
“She nicks all my [wardrobe] money,” Geri jokes in archive footage, after revealing her own Oxfam outfit cost just £20.
Indeed, Victoria’s love of fashion soon took over, even blowing most of the group’s wardrobe budget. She reminisces about her first fashion show invitation in 1997, when Donatella Versace invited her to Milan to choose an outfit.
Victoria picked a black leather dress but couldn’t resist altering it with the help of a shop assistant.
“I really can’t believe I did that. So rude,” she laughs.
Cut to Donatella, who says simply: “You shouldn’t do it. That’s how I feel.” Yet even she admits that Victoria’s version looked better on her.
4: The real reason behind her “miserable” persona
For years, Victoria’s been mocked for not smiling in photos. The documentary finally explains why.
While getting ready for a palace event with husband David, 50, she explains:
“I’ve looked miserable for all these years because when we stand on the red carpet, this guy [David Beckham] has always gone on the left. I didn’t realize that when I smile, which I do, I smile from the left. If I smile from the right, I look unwell. Consequently, I’m smiling from the inside, but no one sees.”
Later, though, she opens up about the deeper reason — the intense scrutiny she faced over her image.
“I became so self-conscious… people thought I was that miserable cow that never smiled — they were not wrong,” she says.
Recalling a moment she was photographed beside her friend Eva Longoria, she adds: “The minute I see a camera I change. The barrier goes up, my armor goes on. The miserable cow who doesn’t smile — that’s when she comes out.”
5: Being just a “WAG” made her feel “incomplete”
When the Spice Girls split, Victoria admits she lost herself completely. She continued as a solo pop star but faced brutal media backlash.
By 2003, when David signed with Real Madrid, Victoria found herself trapped under the early-2000s “WAG” label.
“It’s hard when you’re married to an athlete, because the world idolizes them,” Eva Longoria reflects. She describes how the “WAG” stereotype paints women as golddigging airheads.
At the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Victoria embraced the full WAG aesthetic — big hair, big sunglasses, big attitude.
“Look, it was fun,” she admits, smiling at the footage. It was, she now realizes, a cry to reclaim her identity.
“But I felt incomplete, sad and frozen in time. I suppose there was an element of attention seeking. I didn’t feel creatively fulfilled, so it’s how I stayed in the conversation.”
6: Moving into fashion design saved her
Episode two, Kill the WAG, marks a new beginning as the Beckhams move to Los Angeles in 2007.
Determined to start fresh, Victoria began learning from designer Roland Mouret, who helped her shape her brand. Despite accusations that Mouret was secretly designing for her, she pressed on.
She found herself the center of ridicule in a 2008 Marc Jacobs campaign, which featured her emerging from a giant shopping bag.
Soon after, she admitted David “mom-shamed” her into joining the Spice Girls reunion tour in 2008 so their children could see her perform, despite being pregnant. Although she enjoyed being back with the band, she realized she no longer enjoyed performing, and it was time to hang up her microphone.
In 2008, she launched her first line — 10 dresses presented at an intimate New York event — and was met with rave reviews. A turning point came when Anna Wintour finally attended her 2011 show.
“That feeling was something I wasn’t used to since the Spice Girls — and you want more,” she says.
7: How she nearly lost it all — and spent $94,000 a year on her office plants
With her brand booming, Victoria opened a flagship Mayfair store. But rapid growth and extravagent shows led to mounting debt.
“Things started to get out of control. The reality was slipping through my fingers,” she admits.
With David unable to invest further, she turned to David Belhassen of Neo Investments. Initially skeptical, he changed his mind after seeing his wife wear one of Victoria’s designs.
Together, they restructured the company, and Victoria rediscovered her identity within the brand — even recreating that Marc Jacobs shoot to promote her new beauty line.
Before Belhassen’s involvement, she suspects that people were afraid to tell her no, due to her celebrity status. Since then, she’s made cuts — including her £70,000-a-year (almost $94,000) office plants.
8: The truth behind that working-class meme
After David’s own Netflix doc aired in October 2023, a clip from it of Victoria insisting she was “working class” went viral when he interrupted with, “What car did your dad drive you to school in?” and she confessed: “A Rolls-Royce.”
Here, the new documentary gives context. “The determination that she has, that comes from her parents,” David says.
Her parents, Jackie and Tony Adams, proudly show viewers the impressive home Tony built for the family. Tony reveals he worked in electrical wholesaling and that the kids often helped him build things to sell.
In the end, the couple even remortgaged their house to send Victoria to theatre school in the UK.
9: She never told her family she had an eating disorder
The documentary doesn’t shy away from the brutal body shaming Victoria endured.
Even before fame, she was pushed to the back of dance routines in class for being “bigger” than the other girls.
When her son Brooklyn was just six months old, she was weighed on national TV.
The tabloids taunted her with “Porky Posh” and “Skinny Posh,” leaving her detached from the reality of her image.
“I was just very critical of myself. I didn’t like what I saw,” she says.
To cope, she sought control through her clothes — and her weight.
“I was controlling it in an incredibly unhealthy way. When you have an eating disorder, you become very good at lying,” she confides, admitting she never told her parents or discussed it publicly before now.
10: She feels she must prove herself to David
The series offers a tender look at her 25-year marriage. Cameras follow David as he supports her through the lead-up to her Paris show and quiet moments at home.
In the closing scene of the final episode “Show Day” after the success of an outside fashion spectacle which defied the elements, a tearful Victoria admits feeling guilty about needing David’s help when her business faltered — and confesses she feels she must prove herself to him.
Seeing her family’s faces backstage at her show, she says, was a memorable moment for her, since she could tell they were extremely proud.
“You could make a cheese sandwich and we’d be proud of you,” David tells her.
“Let’s be honest, I couldn’t make a cheese sandwich very well,” she laughs — perfectly encapsulating her trademark humility that has underscored her personal and professional trajectory.
All episodes of Victoria Beckham are available to stream on Netflix from October 9.
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