Victoria Beckham has revealed she was left ‘hurt and embarrassed’ when she was taunted at husband David’s football games.
The Spice Girl, 49, recalled the abuse she received as she spoke about dating the footballer after fans turned on him in the aftermath of the 1998 World Cup.
The sportsman, 48, was blamed for England’s defeat after lashing out at Diego Simeone, sparking a horrific campaign of hate and abuse from fans.
Soon they grew tired of targeting just David, with the footballer confessing in his Netflix documentary BECKHAM: They start singing songs about Victoria.
‘There was one song she’d kill me for singing – every football fan sang this song…’
Not impressed: Victoria Beckham has revealed she was left ‘hurt and embarrassed’ when she was taunted at husband David’s football games
Public enemy number one: The Spice Girl, 49, recalled the abuse she received as she spoke about dating the footballer after fans turned on him in the aftermath of the 1998 World Cup
Victoria then jumped in to reveal the taunt was: ‘Posh Spice takes it up the a**e.’
She continued: ‘Excuse my language, not very ladylike. But 75,000 people singing that, it’s embarrassing, it’s hurtful.
‘I remember sitting down and the lady next to me turned and she didn’t know what to say, she said “do you want a polo?”
‘Because what do you say when you sit next to someone and 75,000 people have been saying you take it up the a**e?’
Discussing the ongoing abuse she continued: ‘We did not know what to do. It felt like we were drowning.’
Yet David reasoned: ‘As horrible as it was to look up at Victoria in the stand, actually it was the one thing that spurred me on.
‘When fans thought they could get to me by singing about my family I ended up scoring a goal.’
Elsewhere in the documentary, David’s friends and loved ones recalled their shock at the extreme lengths the Manchester United player would go to in order to spend time with Victoria when they first started dating.
The pair’s intense and conflicting schedule – with David at football training in Manchester and Victoria touring the world with The Spice Girls – meant that they rarely had any free time together.
Yet David didn’t let it stop him from doing all he could to meet up during their early courtship in 1997, with the sportsman confessing: ‘I didn’t care when I saw her, how much I saw her.
‘If it was me driving down to London to see her for seven minutes, I did it!’
He added: ‘Everything about Victoria, I loved. I didn’t know she was the strong woman that she was and I like that. I don’t whether it was because I wanted her to look after me… She’s a strong, strong woman. She can be a pain in the a**e though!’
Victoria was left smitten by his grand gestures, recalling: ‘I was on tour but not knowing when I was going to see him was the difficult thing.
‘He would do anything to just try and spend time with me, he would sometimes charter a tiny plane, like a two seater plane, he would come over literally for a few hours then go back.’
Shocking: Victoria revealed the taunt was ‘Posh Spice takes it up the a**e’, adding ‘Excuse my language, not very ladylike. But 75,000 people singing that, it’s embarrassing, it’s hurtful’
Yet while the pair only had eyes for each other, those on the outside were concerned about the impact it was having on the footballer and his career.
Fellow Manchester United player Gary Neville, 48, explained: ‘The lengths he was going to see Victoria, it was lot. He was like an addict! He would drive four hours to spend 20 minutes with her.
‘He was on the phone to Victoria every second, and he would stay on the phone until 1 o’clock in the morning.’
David’s mother Sandra, 74, was also concerned, revealing she intercepted calls between the pair in a bid to stop David becoming distracted.
She recalled: ‘Victoria would be away and we’d be staying at David’s house and 3 o’clock in the morning the phone would ring.
‘He had a game so I’d answer the phone and say “he’s in bed, asleep” and they’d want to talk. But me being a protective mum thought “you shouldn’t really be ringing this time in the morning”.
‘But how can you tell them? They’re adults. I was worried he’d lose all he worked for because football come first and all of a sudden it wasn’t.’
BECKHAM is available to stream on Netflix on October 4 from 8AM.
t David reasoned: ‘As horrible as it was to look up at Victoria in the stand, actually it was the one thing that spurred me on’
