Victoria Beckham is opening up about why she wanted to share insight into her personal and professional life in her new self-titled Netflix docuseries, revealing she’s finally come to terms with her reputation as a member of the Spice Girls.
“I’ve been in fashion now for coming up two decades and I was in the Spice Girls for a four-year period, and I’ve been so defined by that four-year period and I’m so proud to say I was a Spice Girl,” Beckham said during a Q&A with Vanity Fair’s Mark Guiducci in New York City on Wednesday, at an event co-hosted by Anna Wintour. “But I have to say I’ve been fighting those preconceptions for coming up to two decades now.”
Beckham went on to share that now feels like the right time to release the docuseries because she can “reflect on my past without it damaging the brand that I’ve spent 20 years building.”
“I feel that I am now not gonna be judged as a celebrity. And it’s taken 20 years to get to that point and it’s been a year making this documentary — an emotional year that has felt like a year of intense therapy,” she continued. “I’m always living in the present and looking forward. I’m very ambitious. I like to dream really, really big, but I have to say having a bird’s eye view for the first time looking back at my journey, I feel really proud.”
The star added, “And for the first time, I feel good enough. I’ve been told no so many times, ever since I was very, very young and that gave me another reason to do it. … I’m proud to say I found my journey inspiring and I think if this show can inspire anybody, can make anybody think, ‘If I’m prepared to put in the work, I can do it, too,’ that is a pretty good reason to do it.”
While Beckham has managed to make a name for herself in the fashion industry, she declared during the Q&A, “I will always be Posh Spice.”
“I’m so thankful and I’m proud to have been a Spice Girl,” she continued. “People say that they love the Spice Girls and the Spice Girls, you know, made them feel good enough. And the Spice Girls did that to me.”
Beckham also explained that being part of the band helped her gain confidence. “They made me realize that I was enough,” she said. “If it wasn’t for the Spice Girls, I genuinely would be very shy. I would be a very, very different person.”
Another topic Beckham discussed was how she has changed as a businesswoman since she first launched her fashion career in 2008. “I came from an entertainment industry and a lot of my team did and the business was not growing as quickly as the brand. And we were getting credibility for the collection, people were desiring the clothes,” she said. “But the business was not growing as quickly, and I am very transparent about it in the documentary, you know, when I say I’ve learned an enormous amount. The business was getting in a terrible state, a terrible state, and it got to a stage where I had to really re-think things.”
She then recalled her business partner David Belhassen telling her they had to “re-strategize” the entire business and team. “At that point, I said absolutely,” Beckham said. “I know what I know, and I really know what I don’t know. And I’ve learned so much by the incredible people around me.”
Beckham also opens up about her struggles with an eating disorder in the docuseries, which she admitted she didn’t initially plan to discuss going into the filming process. After noting that she struggled with body image issues during her youth, Beckham said her insecurities only grew once the Spice Girls were formed.
“I didn’t go into this documentary process even thinking I was going to talk about that. It just naturally came up in conversation when Nadia [Hallgren], our wonderful director, was talking me through my journey, and it just happened in a very natural, organic way,” she said. “It wasn’t something that I planned to ever really talk about before.”
Beckham wrapped up the conversation by explaining that her husband David Beckham’s 2023 docuseries, Beckham, gave her the “confidence” to star in her own project for Netflix. “I question why anyone would be interested to see what I do every day, and it’s been such a journey. And one that I’ve actually really, really enjoyed,” she said.
Victoria Beckham is now streaming on Netflix.
