David Beckham is opening up about the filming of his Netflix docuseries Beckham, fresh off the four-part doc’s Emmy win for outstanding documentary or nonfiction series. And perhaps not so shockingly, the 49-year-old admitted that he wasn’t exactly comfortable with the filming of the series, which, among other things, delved into allegations that he had an affair with his personal assistant.
The former star footballer made the remarks during an appearance at the Royal Television Society’s London Convention on Tuesday. “I had to feel uncomfortable to make the documentary that we made,” Beckham said onstage during the industry conference, via The Hollywood Reporter. The series centered on the high-profile life and relationship between Beckham and his wife, former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham.
“It was quite emotional. It was one of those things I knew if I was gonna make it, I was gonna make it once,” he recalled, of watching the premiere. “It was really difficult. It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact I was going to make it but there was a few reasons why we wanted to make it. Through the pandemic, that’s when documentaries really exploded. It was coming up to the 10-year anniversary of my retirement and I thought: ‘Maybe this is the right time.'”
“I can’t lie, it worried me, it made me nervous, it made Victoria nervous. As much as people think they know everything about us, they don’t really,” Beckham continued. “We don’t open the doors to our house but I knew it was the right time. I wouldn’t say I hated it, I just would say it was very difficult. We loved the results. But we were talking about things in my career that I’d never spoken about before.”
Last month, Netflix announced that it was starting production on a follow-up documentary series following Victoria Beckham’s fashion and beauty business. When asked if his wife was taking notes ahead of the upcoming series, Beckham quipped, “Do you know my wife?”
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“She is an amazing woman,” he gushed, after some laughter from the audience. “A strong, driven, passionate person that has gone from being a Spice Girl to be respected in this industry which is very tough.” Beckham noted that Victoria has worked hard for the past 17 or 18 years on her business, and is now seeing “the success that she deserves.”
“No one really sees what she does and the amount of work she does, she’s over everything—what people wear, everything that goes into her business she’s over every single piece,” he explained, adding that while it was hard to convince her to do the series, she’s been a big part of the process with Netflix. “It’s an exciting time because she’s gonna do something that’s very special and people are going to see her personality and her work ethic.”
Beckham was an instant pop culture phenomenon when it hit Netflix in October 2023, and it has since garnered a 95 percent fresh audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. So as difficult and uncomfortable as filming candid moments of their lives may be, it seems to go without saying that it has been overall beneficial to the couple’s brand, in the grand scheme of things.
