The Victoria Beckham documentary - is this a weird perspective of mine?

[Jessekate]

Just reading about tonight's premiere of VB's documentary and seeing the Beckhams lined up ready to watch it, and all I can think of is how awful it is for the kids (and particularly Harper) having to watch all this.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we shouldn't ever be vulnerable in front of our kids and I know they have to understand the real world etc etc, but it just seems like such a lot for a 14 year old to have to absorb about a parent. So much vulnerability, all the stuff about eating (or lack of), VB being bullied as a child, her low self esteem. I look at my DD and DS (13 and 17) and think how worried they would be to hear all that about me and how anxious and protective it would make them feel, and in turn, how guilty I would feel. I don't think it's something that any amount of material wealth could compensate for. It would have such an impact on them, and not in a good way, I think.

I applaud VB for being so open, but part of me thinks it might have been a documentary to have done when all her kids were older...at least well out of their teens.

I also remember watching the David documentary and they were talking about how footie fans used to shout 'Posh spice takes it up the a*e' and again, all I could think of was....your kids are going to watch this. I was cringing on my sofa!!

I'm late 40s so maybe a bit old fashioned, but to me a lot about parenting is about having very filtered conversations in front of kids, even (or maybe especially) teenagers.

I don't mean to sound sanctimonious, although I probably do, lol! Just interested to hear other viewpoints, as everyone is going on about how amazing the documentary will be, but it can't be an easy watch for everyone in that family.

I hate all the I'm juggling stuff so annoying
Like their kitchen also

Don't like harper dressed up like that I think the neglieee dress is too old.

" I was still breast feeding harper and every time someone moved a chair I was like ,omg you know what it's like when you breast feeding *
Does anyone understand this ?
What's moving s chair got to do with bf ?

Can you breast feed after breast enhancement surgery?

I think David and Victoria can't get enough of the limelight. Thank they are wonderful. Money mad and will do anything to make another shilling.

Haven’t watched it but it sounds like this is one of those ‘I’m the first person ever in the history of the world to do this thing’ moments

Everyone parrots his continued cheating but there’s no hard evidence beyond Loos & the beautician back in the day (?)

Me too, but also felt David having a dig - re: the kitchen - at her being rubbish at making sandwiches & what he might see as trad wifely duties. I think I saw a lot of these, most chillingly re: her having a baby.

I felt there’s been such a power shift in his favour even since his Netflix doc. His knighthood probably will make it worse. Also her going cap in hand for millions which he said he ‘couldn’t afford’.

Who knows? But entry is tough at age 11. My DD is a professional ballet dancer/soloist in a large European national company. She wasn’t offered Tring Park.

Other than DB or VB confirming you aren’t going to get hard evidence of his affairs.

Anyone Who lives in their circles / harpers first schools parents know about his affairs. Press don’t publish because the beckhams ensure they are constantly feeding them stories and pics.

they made a deal with the devil when it comes to the press - endure some negativity but not the really bad stuff and give them enough to sell their papers

That speaks of the competition - wow.

It can be a brutal world & life inside, cutthroat.

I noticed his comments at the start and I thought they were mean spirited. I dont think he makes her feel secure and loved and that adds to her huge self esteem issues. After the Spice Girls broke up, she said she felt lost, and her identity was then completely tied in with DB, as a WAG. His cheating during that time would have compounded her feelings of low self esteem and if she left him, she would have lost the last piece of her identity, hence she has clung on to him ever since despite him not coming across as being particularly nice or loving to her. I feel a bit sorry for her. Despite the wealth, it seems a lonely, anxious existence.

Haven’t watched but from other stuff I agree with you. She seems to live a very staged, uncomfortable life. The thing which I can’t get past though is that given her low self esteem, previous issues with being bullied and body shamed, why oh why does she push her own children into exactly the sort of situations where they’re open to public scrutiny and ridicule

Apparently she’s said that it’s not her kids fault that they’re nepo babies🙄. No it isn’t their fault but not all kids of celebrities are nepo babies so it’s not a foregone conclusion!

Because she has ego without confidence & her belief & value systems mean to be the ‘fairest of them all’ & highest status is to ‘win’. Her goal is for Harper, IMO, to be a better looking more admired version of her with high status.

Brooklyn has ‘won’ in these terms, with a gorgeous, billionaire’s daughter. At what price?

Yes vulnerable narcissist traits - I thought it was particularly excruciating when she said she pushed hard to be Queen of the Wags - didn’t cover herself in glory then. I think she also wanted to portray that she was the most successful of the SG in terms of her personal life - she’d bagged the best looking, most successful husband, had a load of kids and a stable marriage etc - but DB shattered that for her no matter how hard she worked to present a different image in the media. It must be exhausting for her trying to cover it all up when everyone knows. I wish she would cut herself some slack and just drop the pretence. Allow herself to feel sad privately and recover her own sense of self - not running constantly to prove herself to the general public. But maybe the cash rolling in keeps her ‘satisfied’.

The cash will be no ultimate salve, unfortunately.

David’s ego, & ‘chicken’ :) huge. He clearly thinks he’s still ‘got it’ with oodles of cash he ‘can’t afford’ to give her any longer. Her power weakening.

His values appear to be shallow & if he sees her only or mainly as a trophy her worth & value will diminish over time. He likes cultured, aristo women too & he’s gradually cultivating that side of himself. An interest in the arts etc & this will likely accelerate with the knighthood. Unlike him, at core VB feels ‘common’ & lesser I think.

What I was amused by was the notion that she was “brave” for continuing with her failing business which is 10xmillions in debt. Yeah I’m sure it’s brave to keep going when money is no object 😂

Soooo brave to spend £70k a year on office plants and then sooooo brave to grasp furlough from hard grafting UK taxpayers - many on minimum wage and living hand to mouth.

But it’s not ‘savvy’ to expose your children to that much scrutiny. It’s not in any way savvy or wise. It’s a cliche, but 100 percent true, that getting a lot of money for something justifies whatever the consequences are. A calm and secure upbringing away from the public gaze is priceless. VB and DB have actively chosen not to give that to their children.

Things are very different for the offspring of the very rich or very famous - they are used to their parents being the centre of attention. It’s weird though because conventionally it is the young who take up all the space.

When I was very young I went out with a guy whose dad was very wealthy and I noticed that unlike the other young people of the same age who were usually nonchalant about our parents or rebelling against them he usually did what his parents wanted because he was scared of being cut off financially. The kids of the famous can be as much in awe of their fame and wealth - perhaps more so - than the rest of the world.

They aren't normal kids and their lives aren't normal in any way.
They have been exposed to all sorts of things ordinary kids aren't from the moment they were born so any damage has already been done.

Unlike some celebs, the Beckhams have never hidden their children from the public eye but have used them to sell their "perfect family" image. And it probably is just an image because they seem to work very hard at promoting it.
Makes me think of the old phrase "the lady doth protest too much"...
As in, the harder they try to show they are the "prefect" family, the less perfect the reality is.

That’s very true, unfortunately & also, IME, if they do rebel they don’t do it in half measures.

A lot of celebrities come across as wankers. I think their sickening performativity is why reality TV is still so popular.

interesting because the DM has at least 2 stories a day on VB (suspect fully planted by their PR team) - today it’s about wanting harder to have a healthy relationship with food and the other about harper becoming the next kylie Jenner

I find it disturbing that harper is being pushed at the age of 14 - could they not have waited until she turned 18?

I’m slightly amazed anyone is still remotely interested in this awful woman!