David Beckham and Victoria Beckham are perceived to possess an unparalleled and unswerving A-list marriage that radiates with ardour. Despite their unwavering affection, even the strongest of bonds could not evade rumors of infidelity at one point.
The prodigious soccer star, now 48, was accused of cheating on his fashion designer and pop star wife, 49, two decades ago. During that tumultuous time, the committed couple stood by each other’s side.
However, as they recall in the new Netflix docuseries, Beckham, the experience of fending off and ultimately putting the infidelity rumors to rest was excruciatingly painful, emotionally and mentally. We’ll break down the scandal that they revisited in the doc, below:
David & Victoria Beckham Address 2003 Cheating Scandal in New Netflix Doc
In a much-awaited event on October 4th, popular streaming platform Netflix showcased the premiere of a captivating and thought-provoking four-part docuseries on the illustrious and iconic athlete. It chronicled everything from Beckham's rise to fame in the 90s to how he met and courted his wife Victoria.
One major moment the series addressed was the 2003 scandal in which Beckham was accused of cheating on the Spice Girls singer with his personal assistant, Rebecca Loos.
Soon after reports of this emerged, other women came forward, claiming that he cheated on his wife with them in the early 2000s (this included models Sarah Marbeck and Celina Laurie).
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At the time, the Beckhams denied the rumors, with David releasing a statement to The Guardian about it. In 2003, David embarked on a new journey and relocated to Spain to showcase his skills with the team, Real Madrid. Victoria stayed in England, raising their two young sons Brooklyn (born 1999) and Romeo (born 2002).
Several months after he moved to this new place, there were whispers and speculations spreading like wildfire throughout the media outlets about David being spotted with an unknown female companion.
In Beckham, the couple looked back on this difficult time period for the first time in years, and how it threatened to shake the very foundation of their relationship. "I can't even begin to tell you how hard it was and how it affected me," Victoria said, regarding David's time in Spain.
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She added: Did I resent David? If I'm being totally honest, yes, I did. It was probably, if I'm being honest, the most unhappy I have ever been in my entire life. It wasn't that I felt unheard, because I chose to internalize a lot of it, because I was always mindful of the focus that he needed."
In a confessional, David also shared: "I don't know how we got through it, in all honesty. Victoria is everything to me — to see her hurt was incredibly difficult. But we're fighters, and at that time we needed to fight for each other. We needed to fight for our family. And what we had was worth fighting for."
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In 2004, a bombshell report surfaced in the News Of The World, alleging that David was having an extramarital affair with his personal assistant, Rebecca Loos. Shortly after the news broke, Loos was fired from her position as his assistant. She then decided to speak up and give her own side of the story.
In an interview with News of the World, she claimed that she had engaged in multiple intimate encounters with David and that they had exchanged explicit messages and calls "as recently as a fortnight" before the reports surfaced.
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As the scandal snowballed, Loos gave a tell-all interview to Sky News, where she revealed even more details about her alleged relationship with David. According to her, the two of them had first slept together in September 2003, and the affair had continued for several months.
Loos wasn't the only one making sensational claims about David's infidelity. Several other women came forward with their own stories of sleeping with the football player while he was still married.
At the time, David released the following statement on all the rumors via The Guardian: "During the past few months I have become accustomed to reading more and more ludicrous stories about my private life. What appeared this morning is just one further example." He continued: "The simple truth is that I am very happily married and have a wonderful wife and two very special kids. There is nothing any third party can do to change this."
Since then, the Beckhams have maintained that these rumors were false, and have since welcomed two more children; son Cruz (born 2005) and daughter Harper (born 2011). In the docuseries, they both opened up about falling in love in the late 90s, maintaining their bond throughout everything, and how grateful they are for the life they built together during their 24 years of marriage.
