Victoria Beckham Reveals Details of Brutal Eating Disorder Battle
The former Spice Girl was once weighed on national television.
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Victoria Beckham‘s new namesake series on Netflix is a must-watch for fans, offering intimate details of the designer and girl-band icon’s youth.
In the series, titled Victoria Beckham, which hit the streaming platform on October 9, Beckham opens up about her past difficulties with an eating disorder. According to the 51-year-old mother of four, public scrutiny had a painful impact on her mental health.
“I’ve been everything from Porky Posh to Skinny Posh,” she said. In 1999, just a few months after giving birth to her first child, Beckham was weighed on national television on TFI Friday by host Chris Evans, according to the Daily Mail.
While Beckham attempted to put on a brave face, the gossip still got to her. “We laugh about it and we joke about it, when we were on television,” the designer reflected on the incident in the documentary, reports Page Six. “But I was really, really young and that hurts.”
The constant focus on her appearance made Beckham dislike her appearance and eventually led her to “lose all sense of reality.” She struggled with body dysmorphia and felt a loss of control over many aspects of her life due to public scrutiny. To regain a sense of control, she admits that she “was controlling [my weight] in an incredibly unhealthy way.”
Victoria Beckham at the British Fashion Awards in 2000.
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The singer and designer originally became known to the world as Posh Spice, the ultra-chic and glamorously tight-lipped Spice Girl who favored little black dresses and the world’s sleekest bob.
Beckham, née Adams, gained even more attention when she began dating soccer star David Beckham in 1997, whom she married in 1999. The couple previously spoke about the downsides of fame in Beckham, a Netflix docuseries detailing David’s career, released in 2023.
David and Victoria Beckham in 2001.
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“It really affects you when you’re being told constantly that you’re not good enough, and I suppose that’s been with me my whole life,” the designer said. She emphasized that she is in a much better place now, though there are some things she still avoids. “I haven’t touched chocolate since the ’90s,” she revealed.