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Original poster

Am I the only person who thinks Victoria Beckham looked better in her early Spice Girl days...

261 replies

isittoolatetosay · 30/10/2023 23:39

...before all the weight loss, then she has since?

I don't get why she's so celebrated as a style icon for being skinny. She was lovely and had beautiful facial features in her early fame days

OP posts:
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5
Teddy65 · 31/10/2023 07:39

Lampzade · 31/10/2023 07:37

Why is it always women whose looks are critiqued.
Why not focus on David Beckam’s looks.?
He looked better twenty years ago.

Nah, he has also aged like a beautiful wine. Both gorgeous.

Melonmango70 · 31/10/2023 07:43

How about we don't judge other women for ageing 30 years?! I was a size 10 at 25 and thought I was "fat" just because I hated myself - I didn't need the likes of us judging me, but hey, I bet that is the reason I felt "fat" and insecure (as if "fat" was a (negative) description of my personality thanks, Women!) I got fit during lockdown and I had already lost 2 stone (my choice, I'm only talking about me here), and I feel better than ever, but my goodness, who are you to post questions about VB and how she looks or should look?

cookiechipchop · 31/10/2023 07:47

I think she is a beautiful woman either way, truly stunning

ArethaQ · 31/10/2023 07:49

The poster isn't saying she looked better because she was younger, she thinks she looked better because she was a healthier weight. I don't buy into all this 'everyone looks better at 20 Vs 40'. It's ageist and really not the case.

smilesup · 31/10/2023 07:52

Maybe if women's bodies weren't subjected to constant critiques by endless sources, women wouldn't be made to feel shite about their bodies. What a fucking nasty thread.

Lobelia123 · 31/10/2023 07:53

That may be, but I think she is passionate about fashion and to be very thin displays her clothes better. Whtever the case, its her choice. I will say that her skin looks AMAZING - a hundred times better than when she was young - I love that, good on her.

underneaththeash · 31/10/2023 07:56

Wolvesart · 30/10/2023 23:52

It worries me they they are presented as such successful types. 3 boys left private and expensive education and not a university degree in the offing. Her dress sense classy, her children not so much

I don't think they went to selective private schools - the non-selective ones are about providing a broader curriculum and allowing children to achieve their potential.
My daughter is unlikely to go to uni, she goes to a great private school, where she's happy and thrives and they get everyone through their GCSE's even when they have SEN.

I think she looks great for her age.
You can't compare pictures of someone from that long ago, she's bounf to have looked better in her 20's.

Safiey · 31/10/2023 07:59

Conflicted since I have a history of eating disorders and, whatever happy face you put on for others it’s truly truly miserable. From what I’ve read about VB she is very controlling of her diet, and if she’s working hard to be so thin then it’s not pleasant for her. Oh yes, you can be funny, witty, etc when on the spot, on stage in company, it’s the rest of the time that SUCKS. Going to bed hungry, denying yourself, counting calories. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. The only positive I ever gleaned from it was huge amounts of awed praise on my looks… yup being skinny did that.

IncompleteSenten · 31/10/2023 08:01

I think she looks nice then and now.

happyl · 31/10/2023 08:03

both Mel C and Geri have spoken about their eating disorders. When they were in the thick of their disorders I remember friends bemoaning the fact they weren't as skinny and holding their spice girl figures up as the ideal shape. When my own daughter was in the middle of an eating disorder people all around us told her how amazing she looked. Despite being very poorly and not having had a period for over two years. There's extremes of weight, on both ends of the bmi scale, which are just unhealthy. That's neither skinny nor fat shaming.

diol · 31/10/2023 08:04

Catch yourself on, OP. Most people will have looked better, plumper of face, more youthful, 20-30 years ago!

IceAndLemonPlease · 31/10/2023 08:05

I actually think she looks better now. She suits longer hair much more in my opinion.

BoobyDazzler · 31/10/2023 08:05

Almost everyone looked better 20 years ago mate… that’s how it works.

jupitermonket · 31/10/2023 08:09

SunlightOverBamburgh · 30/10/2023 23:54

I feel sorry for her with the Rebecca Loos being dragged up again, it can't be easy for her being reminded of it all.

Well she did choose to make a big new glossy documentary series to showcase how incredible and talented and charming and “normal” she and her husband and family are…a naff faux dramatic hagiography intended - yet again - to boost brand Beckham to a new younger Netflix audience for fear that people might start forgetting who they are. Because they all feel they are just THAT important.

And a large part of that series was telling us just how solid a couple she and David B are, how in love they always have been, how brilliant they are raising such great kids.

THEY are the ones that dragged up the Loos affair story again (the only affair story they like to mention, despite the fact we know there have been many more), all as parts of their latest SELF-CHOSEN branding exercise.

so no, I don’t feel sorry for her having it all dragged up. She did the dragging. I do feel sorry for the Victoria she was back then, when it all came out. And for their poor children at the time.

Twiglets1 · 31/10/2023 08:09

BackAgainstWall · 31/10/2023 00:03

Ffs, we all looked much better in the early spice girl days.

True… I used to look Posh now I look Scary

Goodfood1 · 31/10/2023 08:11

I agree she looked better when she was younger and her natural self. And everyone up in arms about judging her looks... it not like she doesn't wanna be judged on her looks, she actually appears to crave it.

And that's not saying good or bad on her chioces either as they're about her. It's just my opinion on her looks.

9outof10cats · 31/10/2023 08:13

Safiey · 31/10/2023 07:59

Conflicted since I have a history of eating disorders and, whatever happy face you put on for others it’s truly truly miserable. From what I’ve read about VB she is very controlling of her diet, and if she’s working hard to be so thin then it’s not pleasant for her. Oh yes, you can be funny, witty, etc when on the spot, on stage in company, it’s the rest of the time that SUCKS. Going to bed hungry, denying yourself, counting calories. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. The only positive I ever gleaned from it was huge amounts of awed praise on my looks… yup being skinny did that.

Similar experience here.

Had a mild eating disorder myself when younger. Strictly monitored my diet and weighed myself countless times a day - skipping meals if my weight fluctuated by as little as a pound.

Thought I looked great - everyone told me I looked great.

Then something changed - saw a photo of myself and reality bit - I looked shit and much older than my true age.

Started eating properly, went to the gym, and increased my muscle mass. Suddenly all the people telling me I looked great at size 6 were now saying how much better I looked at size 8-10 and they too thought I was too skinny before. I am so much happier and healthier being more curvy. I am older the VB and my body now is better than when I was in my 20s.

I will go against the grain of this thread and say I think VB is too skinny - she looks emaciated and older than her years (too much fat loss will do that as you get older).

There is too much pressure on people today to be skinny - people like VB add to this pressure.

All those on here saying 'she looks great' need a reality check - you are part of the problem.

Nemareus · 31/10/2023 08:14

Nobody mentions the pivotal moment of her life- as a wag with breast enlargements she was on the cusp of going full Katie Price when she pulled herself back, endured years of low key bullying at fashion shows and reinvented herself as a more elegant, classical person.

Katie looks good but it’s not a style that ages well. I think she made a good decision. She also doesn’t have that “middle aged but had work done look” she just looks youngish. Lucky her!

MarvellousMinnie · 31/10/2023 08:15

@Castlerock44 completely agree! They're just people at the end of the day with all the good and bad things that come with being human. Having cash does not change that one jot.
It's time people started looking inward at bettering themselves rather than picking apart another woman on the internet for kicks.

NoNonsenseNelly · 31/10/2023 08:17

@9outof10cats what pressure to be skinny? It's all about being thick and we now have weight gain pills.

Shorty thread op. You should have to post a photo of yourself, as pp said. Maybe it would discourage such nonsense. Mind your own body, hun.

Sortyourlifeout · 31/10/2023 08:17

I guess I could probably be rather unkind and judgemental when I was in my 20's, too but thankfully I grew out of it.

Over40Overdating · 31/10/2023 08:23

I don’t think OP was claiming VB looked better because she was younger, but because she was not so thin.

VB & the rest of the Spice Girls were under an intense scrutiny as most famous women were in the early noughties when 00 was the size women ‘should’ have been to be seen as attractive. VB achieved that and has made it her personal trademark to stay that size.

I used to work in similar circles to people who worked with V & D around the time of the Loos drama.

V’s eating then was extremely disordered due to her insecurity and no one was allowed to eat around her. That meant that people pulling 12-14 hour shifts could not eat the entire time they were working and so would binge once they were off the clock. This created a lot of disordered eating in those around her too. I’m talking assistants literally nosebagging bags of food in as short a time as possible in case they were called up to come back to work with no notice.

The more D stepped out the more she focused on being as thin as possible - and was also having boob jobs to have the ‘perfect’ figure because the press always blame the wife for not being enough when the husband steps out and she was given an absolutely awful time for not being as attractive as the press thought she should be, to be married to golden balls.

They may still be married and have the ‘perfect’ family but it’s come at a much higher cost for V than D. He’s very lucky she’s still with him.

Both of them have had a lot of very good facial treatments over the years - they are aging well because they have the money to do so.

Mirabai · 31/10/2023 08:29

ArethaQ · 31/10/2023 07:49

The poster isn't saying she looked better because she was younger, she thinks she looked better because she was a healthier weight. I don't buy into all this 'everyone looks better at 20 Vs 40'. It's ageist and really not the case.

Exactly. And OP is right she suited having more flesh on her.

applejack18 · 31/10/2023 08:30

Aside from the physical changes which are her choice to make, I was struck by the sadness/seriousness now. Of course, the maturity and wisdom of becoming older is a factor.
From the documentary I got the impression that he called the shots - the football career making them move about from place to place with the upheaval, and the huge strain of the affairs and press. What a knock to the confidence and trust! I appreciate marriages can move on and rebuild.
She's serious and calm, and hopefully happy, but also a bit ground down perhaps. Hope I'm wrong.

sparklefresh · 31/10/2023 08:32

I do think that her move away from her natural body shape to very very thin doesn't suit her. It must be exhausting to maintain as well. David has said that she's eaten the same dinner of fish and steamed veg every day for over twenty years.