Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty

Ex-Spice Girl Victoria Beckham gripped her phone in horror as she watched her husband, star English footballer David Beckham, tell an Australian TV program their marriage was “hard work.”

“It was like a nuclear bomb had gone off,” writes British investigative journalist Tom Bower in his new tell-all The House of Beckham, of the 2018 interview. “Her husband’s disloyalty baffled her. His truthfulness had destroyed her efforts to conjure up an image of happy families. Why, she sobbed, would David embarrass her.”

Afterward, Posh Spice was reportedly so distraught she took a time out at a German wellness spa, says the book, slated for release next Tuesday, June 25.

Throughout this scathing bio, Bower suggests the Beckhams’ happy-family image—which scored a somewhat more upbeat portrayal in Netflix’s Beckham—is nothing more than a house of cards, or in the author’s words, a “distant business relationship,” despite Victoria striving to maintain the illusion of a solid 25-year union.

The chapters preview the couple’s secret world, with titles like “Wreckage,” “Shame,” “Agony,” “Phony,” and “Downfall.” One British reviewer called it “339 pages of slaughter,” adding, “This is a portrait that makes the marriage between Donald and Melania Trump look happy, carefree and loved-up.”

Here are a few of the spiciest claims about the pair Bower calls “consummate actors.”

Victoria sent a search party for David at Glastonbury

Before his wife arrived at the famous music festival in 2017, “Golden Balls” was partying until the wee hours with pals including sports agent Dave Gardner and socialite Lady Mary Charteris, along with a “glamorous Australian bikini model.”

David was having so much fun that a stranger snapped a photo of him near an unnamed woman; the soccer star marched over to demand the spy delete it.

Then Victoria arrived from New York. Bower writes that one member of the entourage said, “There was no hassle and a great mood until she landed.” The fashion mogul plowed through the VIP area, irate that her hubby had screened her calls.

“Eventually, David appeared,” Bower writes. “Within seconds, they were embroiled in a ferocious argument.” A witness added, “They looked quite miserable, but they managed to pose for the cameras.”

News of David’s affairs led to Victoria clocking him

The couple’s relationship has long been plagued by rumors of infidelity. Bower writes that Victoria punched David in the face after he told her he’d been accused of kissing another woman while she was on tour—and pregnant with their son, Brooklyn, in 1998.

“I hadn’t planned it,” the Spice Girl noted in her own memoir. “I hadn’t punched anybody before. Just instinct. I just felt angry and hurt.” Still, she married David the following year. The girl-power icon once told Glamour she’d “die of a broken heart” if her spouse was unfaithful.

David’s extramarital frolicking reportedly led to him keeping a “stash” of blank NDA forms that he “should get the woman to sign” if necessary.

Bower argues the couple only stayed together for their brand: David’s “status and survival would have been washed away without Victoria’s determination to maintain the illusion of a happy family.”

One of David’s alleged lovers came forward after he stiffed a waiter

Multiple women have claimed to have affairs with the Manchester United legend, but one reportedly spoke out in 2004 after he refused to tip a waitress following a meal with employees of the SFX sports agency at Madrid’s Hard Rock Cafe.

According to Bower, his former personal assistant Rebecca Loos was aghast at Beckham’s “double standards.” The next day, the waitress handed Loos a note for Beckham—then playing for Real Madrid—explaining that she survived on tips.

“After reading the note, Beckham was alarmed,” Bower writes. “‘Give her this,’ he said, handing over a thick wodge of euros.”

While David denied the affair with Loos, Victoria’s life in Spain “was lonely and unhappy,” Bower says. “Although she had everything money could buy she was isolated,” he wrote. “With few friends, she was unwilling to learn Spanish. Her diet, rigorous exercise and chain-smoking reflected her anxieties.”

The Beckhams were reportedly very stingy

During a photo shoot, Victoria expensed some potato chips. And the couple was once supposedly annoyed at an employee who’d requested $10 (£8) for a taxi. At another point, David wanted to serve warm German Liebfraumilch, which costs about $3.80 (£2.99) a bottle, at a lavish Unicef fundraiser.

More seriously, Bower also accuses David of tax avoidance schemes: “Beckham gave the impression that playing the tax card had become nearly as important in his life as kicking the ball.” Bower adds that the soccer star “effectively became a non-dom,” the term for a UK resident who lives outside of the country and who does not have to pay taxes for income earned elsewhere, after relocating to Spain.

David could be “creepy” with women

The footballer “always looked like he was evaluating each woman” when he visited his agent’s London office, the book alleges. “Some longed for his attention,” Bower writes. “Others would later say he was rather creepy.”

According to one alleged lover, Aussie model Sarah Marbeck, David referred to himself as “Peter Pan” and Victoria as “Wendy.” His name for Marbeck: “Tinkerbell.” David also reportedly told Marbeck he fantasized about a Pretty Woman scenario, where he’d play Richard Gere to her Julia Roberts call girl.

The Beckhams feuded with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

Bower delves into the couple’s celebrity friendships, including with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex—the latter of whom he claims “put on airs” around Victoria.

“In Meghan’s celebrity world, ranking depended on wealth and fame. As a seasoned operator, Meghan deluded herself that her status in the Royal family placed her above Victoria in the social pecking order,” Bower writes.

The scribe adds Markle “was irritated to discover that the Beckhams had considerably more wealth than herself” and “owned five homes, had constant access to private jets, invitations to sail on yachts and much more money.”

Meghan and Victoria allegedly had a falling out after the Sun reported Posh Spice gave the Suits actress makeup advice. Harry called David over the alleged press leak, and Victoria denied going to the press with that tidbit.