Rumors About The Beckham Family That Just Won't Die
Stir together a Spice Girl and one of the world's most recognizable soccer greats, and what do you get? One of the tabloids' go-to recipes for cooking up rumors and gossip on both sides of the pond.
David Beckham caused a bicontinental brouhaha when he announced that he was leaving England and going Hollywood, pinning his financial future on his ability to boost soccer's popularity in America by playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy. The move was questioned by some, including former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Per Express, David's one-time mentor suggested that the pro athlete's wife, Victoria Beckham, had convinced him to spice up his life by putting the pursuit of celebrity over sport and bringing "Brand Beckham" to America. "He fell in love with Victoria. And that changed everything," Ferguson said. In 2012, BBC News reported that David's football career was floundering, but he was flourishing as a fixture in the lens of the paparazzi that so often trailed him and his family. The success of Victoria's fashion label was also helping her get a firm foothold among the Hollywood elite.
"They've carved out their own niche," said American journalist Tim Teeman. "They appear a happy family, and they are pretty. These are things Americans like." And just like the Brits, Yanks are consumers of celebrity gossip, so becoming the subjects of clickbait headlines and salacious tabloid stories helped make Posh Spice and Becks feel right at home.
Victoria Beckham lied about her plastic surgery
On occasion, a celebrity rumor will turn out to be true. Speaking to the Mirror in 2003, "Nip 'N' Tuck" author Kathy Lette came up with her own colorful way to say that it looked like Victoria Beckham was a bit bustier than she used to be. "Her boobs are so big that it's not that she's had breast implants; it's more that her breasts have had a Posh implant," Lette quipped. Months earlier, the topic of whether Beckham had gone under the knife came up while the singer was debunking rumors on the series "Tabloid Tales," per BBC News. Beckham insisted that nothing on her body was fake, save for her fingernails and some segments of her hair.
But in a 2014 interview with Allure, Beckham confessed to getting plastic surgery on her breasts by saying, "I think I may have purchased them." By that time, she had gotten her implants removed. She later used a 2017 British Vogue essay to get any nagging guilt she was feeling over her plastic surgery dishonesty off her chest. In a message addressed to 18-year-old Victoria Adams, she wrote, "I should probably say, don't mess with your boobs. All those years, I denied it — stupid. A sign of insecurity. Just celebrate what you've got."
As for rhinoplasty rumors, Beckham swears that her nose is all-natural. In a video on Charlotte Tilbury's YouTube page, she says that any alterations in its appearance are the result of contouring.
David Beckham's alleged knighthood obsession
Was David Beckham's role as a knight in the 2017 film "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" a not-so-subtle hint that he wanted to become the real deal? Or, at least, the modern version of a knight, which gets you the "Sir" honorific but no sword or suit of honor.
If some reports are to be believed, one of the soccer star's biggest goals is to get knighted. In 2017, hackers stole a cache of emails that included some of Beckham's alleged correspondence regarding the matter, and it was published on the website Football Leaks. After getting passed over for a knighthood, Beckham raged against the committee that reviews nominations for the honor. "They're a bunch of c***s. I expected nothing less ... Who decides on the honors?" read a message to his PR adviser, per the Daily Mail. Another communication appeared to show Beckham's PR adviser and a producer orchestrating an exchange about Beckham's knighthood chances ahead of his appearance on "The Jonathan Ross Show." In the segment, Ross suggested that Beckham was a shoo-in for a knighthood. However, Ross tweeted that he was not asked to do this, and Beckham's rep cast doubt over the incriminating emails' authenticity by claiming that they had been altered.
After Queen Elizabeth II's death in 2022, cynical Twitter users also suggested that Beckham only spent 12 hours queuing to see the late monarch's coffin in a desperate bid to prove himself worthy of a knighthood.
Brooklyn Beckham's rumored rift with his parents
David Beckham and Victoria Beckham are the proud parents of four kids who have helped Brand Beckham bridge the generational gap: daughter Harper and sons Brooklyn, Romeo, and Cruz. But speaking to Page Six, a source claimed that Brooklyn's wife, Nicola Peltz, drove a wedge between Brooklyn and his parents by trying to cut Victoria out of their wedding planning. This purportedly snowballed into an all-out feud between the two couples, with sources suggesting that Peltz possibly initiated it because she feared that Posh Spice would steal the spotlight on her wedding day.
In an interview with Grazia, Peltz denied that there was any drama with her in-laws, theorizing that the basis of the rumors was what went down with her wedding dress: Victoria was supposed to help design it but informed Peltz that her atelier would not be available. As for Brooklyn, he revealed where his loyalties lie by saying, "To be honest, my wife is obviously my first priority, and I never want to see her upset ever." An insider told the Daily Mail that David was livid with his son for commenting on the supposed non-issue, saying, "[David] had it out with him and told him: 'We don't do this in our family.'"
Brooklyn was noticeably MIA from the Beckhams' 2022 Christmas photo, and while Victoria said that she was missing her son, some of her Instagram followers noted that she made no mention of Peltz at all.
The infidelity accusations against David Beckham
In 2004, News of the World (via the Daily Mail) published an account from a source who claimed that David Beckham had a torrid affair with his ex-assistant, Rebecca Loos. This didn't turn out to be the type of tawdry tabloid tale that sizzles and fizzles in a matter of days.
After David and Loos were photographed together at a nightclub in Madrid, the insider claimed that they went back to Beckham's hotel room and had sex. David didn't outright deny the claims when he responded to them but did say, "The simple truth is that I am very happily married. I have a wonderful wife and two very special kids. There is nothing any third party can do to change these facts." Loos herself then went into great detail about their alleged affair in a Sky TV interview (via the Daily Mail), claiming that they sexted often but only had sex a handful of times. "He knows what you want, and he gives it to you, and it is all about you," Loos gushed. Days before her interview, another woman, Sarah Marbeck, told News of the World (via The Telegraph) [Link w/out paywall] that David had also cheated on Victoria Beckham with her after making her acquaintance at a party in Singapore.
Shortly before Marbeck came forward, a prophetic Posh Spice said to The Sun (via The Times), "We have been through a lot worse than this, and we're definitely going to get through this."
The Beckhams' angry outbursts
David Beckham was known to lose his temper on the soccer field on occasion, with a highlight reel showing him shoving and shouting at his opponents. But in 2005, Espanyol's Sergio Sanchez accused David of completely losing his cool when the cameras weren't rolling. "After we won, David was waiting and blocked my path in the tunnel," Sanchez recalled, per the Daily Mail. "He lost control. That's when he slapped me. He was going crazy, swearing and calling me 'son of a whore.'" Sanchez said that other players separated them before the situation could escalate further. However, a source with ties to Beckham claimed that Golden Balls never touched his opponent.
Victoria Beckham has also been accused of having a short fuse. In 2002, she was sued by store owners who claimed that Posh Spice was anything but nice when she became convinced that they were selling forgeries of David's autograph, per The Guardian. She reportedly launched a loud verbal attack on the owners, but after she was ordered to pay them £155,000 in court, Victoria's lawyer denied reports that she used vulgar language, per The Times.
The Beckhams were the ones doing the suing in 2005 after their former nanny, Abbie Gibson, shared tales of their purported marital woes with News of the World (via the Daily Mail). Among her claims was that David once shouted, "You f****** b***h!" at Victoria. Gibson later apologized for her breach of a signed confidentially agreement, per The Guardian.
David Beckham was accused of choosing a payout over principles
In 2021, David Beckham signed a contract that was reportedly worth around $180 million to serve as an ambassador for Qatar during the 2022 World Cup, per the Daily Mail. David's deal rankled many, including Amnesty International UK and members of the LGBTQ+ community. For the sake of a paycheck, it appeared that he was willing to turn a blind eye to the behavior of a country that imprisons LGBTQ+ citizens and subjects migrant workers to inhumane treatment. According to Metro, a gay Qatari activist, Dr. Nas Mohamed, even accused Beckham of blocking him on Instagram after he published an open letter addressed to the soccer star. In it, Mohamed attempted to educate David about how his deal hurt Qatar's marginalized LGBTQ+ community, per the Independent.
Rumors swirled about the fallout from David's controversial new role, with Closer claiming that Victoria Beckham was having a hard time dealing with the backlash. "She's been in tears; she's really stressed and not sleeping," a source told the outlet, later adding, "Many of her friends feel sad that she is not taking a stand, especially all of Vic's gay friends who have been messaging asking why she isn't saying anything."
On Twitter, critics suggested that the Qatar contract would destroy Beckham's chances of securing a knighthood in the near future, and the Daily Star later reported that Beckham's name was, indeed, missing from King Charles III's 2023 New Year Honors list.
Victoria Beckham's wild WAG life
In the early aughts, Posh Spice became the prototype for that era's WAGs, the wives and girlfriends of successful athletes. Victoria Beckham traded the LBDs and severe bobs of her Spice Girls days for short shorts, insectile sunglasses, a tangerine-tinged tan, and blond hair extensions. Getting tongues wagging was another important WAG attribute, and in 2004, WAG watchers got an exceptionally wild rumor about Victoria to marvel over — according to SFGate, David Beckham supposedly bought her a $1.8 million platinum sex toy encrusted with diamonds.
Extravagance and entitlement were integral to the WAG lifestyle. Per the Mirror, there were rumors that Beckham packed over two dozen pairs of blue jeans and twice as many sunglasses when she joined David in Baden-Baden for the 2006 World Cup. But before she could get there, Posh was overheard complaining about her private plane running late in Cologne. "What is going on here? A dog gets better treatment than this," she reportedly fumed, per the Mirror. According to Katie Price, aka Jordan, Victoria also had canines on the brain when she maliciously mocked the model at a 2001 Manchester United party. On the series "Tabloid Tales" (via the Mirror), Price claimed that Beckham and her fellow WAG Nicola Smith barked at her and belted out the song "Who Let the Dogs Out?" Price recalled, "They were giggling about it. I just thought, 'How immature is that?'"
Katherine Jenkins denied having an affair with David Beckham
In 2012, David Beckham's rep denied claims that the soccer pro was cheating on Victoria Beckham with singer Katherine Jenkins. Per Page Six, the rumors originated on Twitter, which is where Jenkins addressed them. "Dear Twitter friends, I've read some horrible rumors on here and want u 2 know I absolutely deny I've had an affair with David Beckham," she wrote. In the case of the Streisand effect, this likely made more people aware of rumors that they were previously oblivious to. However, Jenkins explained to Wales Online that her life was being threatened over the allegations, hence her decision to tweet about them.
If Beckham was irked by the move, he didn't say so at the time. However, he seemed to regard Jenkins with contempt in a leaked email, complaining that she was given an honor he also received, an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire). Beckham also referenced her 2008 revelation to the Daily Mail that she had experimented with drugs. "Katherine Jenkins OBE for what? Singing at the rugby and going to see the troops plus taking coke. F***ing joke,'" the email read, per the Daily Mail. While Beckham's rep claimed that some of the infamous "Beckileaks" emails of 2017 were doctored, none were singled out.
On "The Dan Wootton Interview," Jenkins revealed that Beckham never reached out to her about the email. "To get caught up in that wasn't pleasant," she said.
Brooklyn Beckham might have too many cooks in the kitchen
They say you can fake it until you make it, but what if you want to be a chef and can't even make a sandwich? According to the New York Post, this was an issue Brooklyn Beckham faced when he decided to launch his own cooking show, "Cookin' With Brooklyn." In one episode, he didn't cook the fish or hash browns himself when his dish of the day was fish and chips in sandwich form — he basically just assembled the sandwich. And when demonstrating his cooking skills on "Today," he kept it simple by whipping up a different sandwich, failing to impress Twitter with the unbuttered bread and ketchup on his breakfast butty.
The New York Post's sources claimed that it takes a lot of dough to prop Brooklyn up as a chef, estimating that $100,000 goes into producing each episode of his show. He also reportedly relies on the expertise of over 60 other people. "Apparently the guy has to be shown really super basic things and has a 'cheat sheet' of expressions from whisk to par-boil, several illustrated with pictures," an insider dished. According to Bustle, Brooklyn's wife, Nicola Peltz, cooked up the idea for the cooking show, but his mom has also been supportive. After snarky Instagram users suggested that his Sunday roast looked like it was still capable of grazing, Victoria Beckham wrote on her Instagram Story, "It's rare people not raw," per Access.
Misbehaving monarchists
In 2017, an insider told The Sun that David Beckham's gushing Instagram tributes to Queen Elizabeth II were part of a calculated effort to secure a knighthood. "It's incredible to see the lengths David and his team went to present him in the right light," said the source.
As of this writing, he still isn't a Sir, but having close ties to the crown comes with other perks. After David and Victoria Beckham posted Instagram photos of their daughter at Buckingham Palace in 2017, they were accused of taking advantage of their connections to treat her to what some believed was a taxpayer-funded birthday party, per ABC News. "Lucky Harper meeting a real-life princess at the Palace," David captioned a since-deleted photo of the little girl and a group of friends posing with Princess Eugenie. When his posts about the party didn't go over so well, he wrote, "Just to be clear, this wasn't the palace opening the gates for Harper's birthday party, this was a tea party where us and other guests were invited." The Beckhams reportedly received their invite from Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, who paid for the party themselves.
Victoria has also been accused of leaking the news that she was going to be honored with an OBE in 2016. "Nominees are sworn to secrecy, so she has broken the first rule of being offered the honor," British politician Andrew Bridgen told the Daily Mail. "It would appear to be a breach of protocol."
Victoria Beckham's struggling fashion label
According to a rumor repeated in the exposé "Fashion Babylon," when designer Tom Ford seethed over Victoria Beckham wearing his clothes, his PR told him there wasn't anything that could be done about it because she was purchasing the apparel herself. "Ford is said to have paused and then shouted, 'How can we stop her?'" writes author Imogen Edwards-Jones.
Victoria would eventually be embraced by the fashion community, creating a label of her own worn by celebs including Kendall Jenner, Lady Gaga, and Selena Gomez, per E!. But apparently, the "Wannabe" singer couldn't attract enough famous clientele to keep her brand profitable. According to a 2016 Daily Mail report, money from David Beckham's lucrative business dealings was being pumped into her company to help keep it afloat. In 2019, The Sun reported that sales were so poor that Victoria purportedly had to fire her chauffeur. And by 2022, her label was over $57 million in debt, per the Mirror.
With news of her company's continued financial woes came a slew of rumors centered on them. Heat World claimed that David Beckham desperately wanted his wife to overhaul her business model. "David doesn't want to be the bad guy, but the business has been propped up with money from Brand Beckham for years, and it can be a big drain on finances," said an insider. Another source told New, "He doesn't want the family to keep pouring money into something that doesn't appear to be working."
The Beckhams' rumored falling out with the Sussexes
Per The Sun, Victoria Beckham and Meghan Markle had a falling out in 2017 when the Duchess of Sussex accused the Princess of Poshness of leaking information about their conversations to the media. After seeing a story about the London-based beauty salons and aestheticians Victoria recommended to her, Meghan supposedly shared her suspicions with Prince Harry, who then spoke to David Beckham about them. "Harry was very polite, but obviously it was a pretty awkward exchange, and David was mortified," a source said. "It later turned out the leak probably came from a beauty salon." The Beckhams attended Meghan and Harry's 2018 wedding, so if rumors of a rift between the couples were true, they seemingly managed to patch things up by then.
Victoria also had nothing but kind things to say about Meghan after the former "Suits" star opted to wear designs from Posh's fashion line on Christmas Day in 2018. "It was such a lovely surprise to wake up to," Victoria said during a "Live with Kelly and Ryan" appearance. "I think that she's such a beautiful, strong, wonderful woman."
But in 2021, the Mirror claimed that Victoria snubbed the Sussexes by deciding not to invite them to Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz's wedding. William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales, also didn't attend the event but reportedly turned down an invitation. "They were their choice of wedding guests ... It was never about Meghan and Harry," a source sniffed.
Incessant split rumors
Since their 1999 wedding, Victoria Beckham and David Beckham have defied their critics' expectations by staying together — for better, for worse, for richer, for, er, richer. In 2015, The Sun (via Toronto.com) reported that the couple was having explosive fights and spending little time together due to their busy schedules. "Normally, they would kiss and make up by spending time as a family, but they are rarely in the same country together," said an insider. But that same year, Victoria told Grazia that their marriage was doing just fine. "Yes, we travel a lot with our respective businesses and charitable commitments, but we always make time for each other as a couple and as a family," she said.
In 2018, Victoria told British Vogue (via Cosmopolitan) that she and David had learned to brush off the persistent divorce rumors, but she feared that they might affect the couple's children in negative ways. She also credited her family with strengthening her marital bond and said, "We both realize that we are stronger together than we are as individuals." When the divorce rumors started back up in 2022 after Victoria had her tattoo of David's initials removed, she told "Today" that it didn't mean she was tired of her husband — she was just tired of the ink.
So while their relationship hasn't always been soccer and spice and everything nice, Posh and Becks have proved time and time again that you can't break or bend Brand Beckham.