{"id":116782,"date":"2025-10-12T05:06:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T05:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/116782\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T05:06:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T05:06:11","slug":"my-wish-for-harper-is-she-has-a-heathier-relationship-with-food-than-i-did-in-her-most-intimate-interview-victoria-beckham-reveals-how-shes-battling-to-ensure-daughter-doesnt-fall-prey-to-eating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/116782\/","title":{"rendered":"‘My wish for Harper is she has a heathier relationship with food than I did.’ In her most intimate interview, VICTORIA BECKHAM reveals how she’s battling to ensure daughter doesn’t fall prey to eating disorders"},"content":{"rendered":"

As close as the Beckhams have traditionally been as a family, there is one secret that Victoria has long kept from her children \u2013 and for good reason. But knowing it was about to emerge in the Netflix<\/a> documentary that would take a deeply personal look at her life for the first time, the former Spice Girl had steadied herself to sit down with them before it was revealed to the world and be completely honest about the eating disorder she had battled for decades.<\/p>\n

And it was the conversation with her 14-year-old daughter Harper \u2013 who is already navigating the twin pressures of being a teenage girl under the glare of the media spotlight \u2013 that Victoria knew would be the most important.<\/p>\n

By the time the family appeared together as a tight-knit, glamorous unit on the star-studded red carpet for the Mayfair premiere of her eponymous series on Wednesday, that secret was out.<\/p>\n

But as she tells The Mail on Sunday today, in what might be the most candid interview of her career to date, her greatest fear \u2013 and the reason she had kept the disorder so hidden from her family \u2013 was that history would repeat itself with her daughter.<\/p>\n

Describing the moment she sat down with Harper, a few days before the premiere, Victoria, 51, says: \u2018We just had a really honest conversation, and I explained that when you have issues with food, it is all consuming.<\/p>\n

\u2018It is sad. It\u2019s a very lonely place.<\/p>\n

‘I thought it was important that she heard it from me before she saw it at the theatre.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Victoria <\/p>\n

Victoria Beckham\u00a0sat down with her daughter, Harper, a few days before the premiere of her Netflix docuseries<\/p>\n

\"As <\/p>\n

As well as Harper, the former Spice Girl was supported by her husband David (right) and children Cruz (left), his girlfriend Jackie Apostel and Romeo on the night<\/p>\n

It is heartbreaking to hear. This is the first time Victoria \u2013 known for years as Posh amid her global girl band fame \u2013 has spoken of her fears for her only daughter who has had no choice but to grow up in the limelight because of her parents\u2019 global fame.<\/p>\n

It is, perhaps, inevitable that Harper will garner more attention than her brothers. And this is precisely why Victoria is adamant that her girl won\u2019t suffer in the same way she did.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019ve actually talked about food for quite some time, because the one thing that doesn\u2019t seem to change is that little girls think a lot about food as they\u2019re growing up, and when their bodies are changing and when they\u2019re going through puberty,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n

\u2018And my wish for Harper is that she has a really healthy relationship with food, and that she eats healthily. We all want to treat ourselves as well, but it\u2019s about balance. Harper\u2019s also very fit and plays a lot of sport, but we\u2019ve talked about food before, because that is a conversation that\u2019s flying around at school.\u2019<\/p>\n

Victoria\u2019s admission in the three-part documentary that she struggled with food for years may not come as a surprise to many, given it was widely rumoured.<\/p>\n

But the detail shines a troubling light on the pressures of fame and the demands of the music industry during the 1990s and 2000s.<\/p>\n

Victoria, now a successful fashion designer and beauty guru whose brand has annual sales revenue topping \u00a3100 million, confessed that she was called \u2018fat\u2019 and \u2018overweight\u2019 while at theatre school as a young teenager, and lied to her parents about her eating disorder.<\/p>\n

After the Spice Girls hit the big time in 1996 with their first single Wannabe, she was referred to as \u2018Skinny Spice\u2019. Then there was the time when the late Sir Michael Parkinson asked her on his BBC chat show in 2000 if she was anorexic \u2013 which she denied.<\/p>\n

The previous year, she was weighed on television by Chris Evans on his Channel 4 show TFI Friday, just two months after she had given birth to her first son Brooklyn, to see if she\u2019d lost her baby weight.<\/p>\n

\"Victoria <\/p>\n

Victoria confessed in the series that she was called \u2018fat\u2019 and \u2018overweight\u2019 while at theatre school as a young teenager, and lied to her parents about her eating disorder<\/p>\n

\"This <\/p>\n

This is the first time Victoria has spoken of her fears for her only daughter – who has had no choice but to grow up in the limelight because of her parents\u2019 global fame\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Presenter <\/p>\n

Presenter Chris Evans weighs Victoria, who had given birth to her first child just two months before, for his Channel 4 show TFI Friday in 2000<\/p>\n

Victoria admits she was \u2018hurt\u2019 by the stunt \u2013 but for her children, such revelations were the first they\u2019d heard of the misogyny their mother endured.<\/p>\n

Their reaction, she says, was hard for her to hear.<\/p>\n

\u2018All of the kids were really, really shocked with what they saw in that documentary,\u2019 she says of those scenes.<\/p>\n

\u2018It wouldn\u2019t happen now. And the truth is, it really hurt. Words can really hurt people \u2013 I always say this to the children.<\/p>\n

\u2018Words are so powerful, and you really have to choose your words carefully. And I\u2019ve never talked about this before.\u2019<\/p>\n

They may be shocked, but there is pride, too, that she is taking a stand and speaking about these things after holding her tongue for so long.<\/p>\n

Those who know Victoria well know this isn\u2019t something that comes naturally to her.<\/p>\n

When I meet Victoria and David, before the premiere of the documentary, David, 50, beamed as he told me how proud he was of his wife \u2013 though confided he was \u2018disgusted\u2019 with the way she had been treated by television programmes back then.<\/p>\n

The perfect gentlemen, he helped me down the stairs in my stilettos to meet Victoria, who gave me a warm hug.<\/p>\n

She was nervous, and confided that she hadn\u2019t seen the full, final cut of the show \u2013 and that she almost didn\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n

\u2018I wasn\u2019t sure about having a camera crew following me a year, but then I gave in and decided to go for it,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

\u2018I am a control freak, but now I\u2019m a reformed control freak, and that was quite liberating.<\/p>\n

\u2018I was surprised that anybody was really particularly interested in what I do every day. But David convinced me that it was the right thing to do, and he was so supportive through the whole thing.\u2019<\/p>\n

So why did she choose to be so candid? And why now?<\/p>\n

\u2018I never want to look like I\u2019m complaining,\u2019 she shrugs. \u2018I\u2019ve always just taken it on the chin. I was always told to take the high ground and I think that\u2019s something that we\u2019ve always lived by.<\/p>\n

\u2018But now seemed like the right time. It\u2019s a very different world now, and I think that lots of women can relate to what I was talking about. I was ashamed of it, you know. You become very good at hiding those things and lying.<\/p>\n

\u2018And I was nervous to talk about it. Of course I was, because people have been talking about my weight since I was really young, even before I was famous. But I now have a young daughter, and I think that talking about things like this are really, really important.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re so much more aware of mental health. And, you know, I hope people will listen to me.\u2019<\/p>\n

After watching the first two episodes of the documentary in full with her children on Wednesday, she watched the third episode the following night with Harper and her youngest son Cruz, 20, and his long-term girlfriend, Jackie Apostel, 29, at their family home in Holland Park, west London.<\/p>\n

There has been much discussion over their romance because of the age gap between the pair, but this doesn\u2019t seem to bother Victoria. Indeed, she has dressed Jackie in her label and collaborated on social media campaigns with her for the brand.<\/p>\n

She admits she is a big fan of the Brazilian songwriter, and I ask if Jackie is a good influence on Cruz, who is about to launch his own music career. \u2018She is \u2013 she\u2019s great,\u2019 she enthuses. \u2018She\u2019s a talented songwriter, too.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"When <\/p>\n

When I meet Victoria and David, before the premiere of the documentary, David beamed as he told me how proud he was of his wife, writes KATIE HIND<\/p>\n

\"Victoria <\/p>\n

Victoria told KATIE HIND, ‘I’ve always taken the high ground… But now seemed like the right time’<\/p>\n

Romeo, 23, who is now single after separating from girlfriend Kim Turnbull earlier this year, is working in fashion. He no longer lives with his parents, but was out to support her at the premiere.<\/p>\n

Referring to Cruz and Romeo\u2019s career decisions, Victoria jokes that her \u2018genes must be quite strong\u2019.<\/p>\n

The heartache is, of course, the absence in all of this of her eldest son Brooklyn. Along with his wife, American heiress Nicola Peltz, he is involved in a well-publicised rift with his parents.<\/p>\n

That subject is, understandably, off the table for today\u2019s interview, although the situation must particularly smart at times when the family is gathered together like this. After all, as the documentary shows, their day-to-day lives are much like any family \u2013 bar a \u00a3400 million fortune.<\/p>\n

The clan are clearly close. At the premiere, I saw how protective Romeo was of Harper. An arm around his younger sister, he made sure she was comfortable on the red carpet. And the family still have dinner together most nights, Romeo included, where they discuss their day.<\/p>\n

\u2018We just spend that time talking,\u2019 says Victoria. \u2018There are things that might not seem particularly important to people of our age, but they\u2019re important to the kids, and I think it\u2019s good for us to talk about what\u2019s going on in their lives, what\u2019s happening with friendship groups, and what are their plans, and how are things going at school for Harper \u2013 I want them all to feel heard.\u2019<\/p>\n

Harper, in particular, is starting to navigate the perils of social media and has recently joined Instagram. So far, her profile is set to private \u2013 much to her parents\u2019 relief.<\/p>\n

But she has been filming online make-up tutorials alongside her mum. What if she wanted to follow in her parents\u2019 footsteps and take the celebrity path?<\/p>\n

\u2018I think that Harper\u2019s very smart,\u2019 Victoria says. \u2018She\u2019s incredibly funny \u2013 oh my God, she has the best sense of humour.<\/p>\n

\u2018And she\u2019s got a little entrepreneurial head on her shoulders. She is a little mini-me.<\/p>\n

\u2018So it will be interesting to see, but she\u2019s a good girl and she\u2019s kind. I always say to her that\u2019s what is so important. I tell her to be the kind girl in the playground because that really matters.\u2019<\/p>\n

She and David must have such busy lives, I say. Don\u2019t they ever lose track of their brood?<\/p>\n

\u2018No, absolutely not,\u2019 says Victoria. \u2018We have a family chat group, and we all know where each other are. David and I like to check in with them all before we go to bed at night and check everybody\u2019s home. Romeo might not live with us any more but we like to make sure he\u2019s home and safe.<\/p>\n

\u2018You don\u2019t stop worrying about your kids, even when they\u2019re grown up. You worry about them as much as you did when they were little, and that\u2019s something that will never change.\u2019<\/p>\n

The same could be said for Victoria\u2019s own parents, Jackie and Tony Adams. They appear in the Netflix documentary describing their torment at hearing how their daughter was repeatedly treated over her appearance.<\/p>\n

How did they feel, watching you go through it all, I ask?<\/p>\n

\u2018It was a double-edged sword,\u2019 Victoria admits. \u2018It was lovely to share the experiences I was having, but there were ups and downs.<\/p>\n

\u2018I mean, I know how I feel \u2013 if someone is mean about one of my children, it upsets me more than if they\u2019re mean about me. So it must have been incredibly hard for them to see all of those things that were written about me.\u2019<\/p>\n

Jackie and Tony also had to endure Victoria becoming the target of school bullies for being \u2018thick\u2019 when, in later years, she realised she was actually dyslexic.<\/p>\n

She has spoken about this before, describing how the condition \u2018doesn\u2019t run in our family, it gallops\u2019. Recalling the nasty jibes, she tells me: \u2018I now realise from watching my children grow up and their academic journeys that I am self-diagnosed dyslexic.<\/p>\n

\u2018I have to learn differently, but back then those things weren\u2019t recognised. You were just called thick. And so the bottom line is, I\u2019ve always had to work hard. It\u2019s never come easy.\u2019<\/p>\n

That hard work has more than paid off. The documentary soared to the top of Netflix\u2019s chart on Friday morning, much to her delight.<\/p>\n

Our interview ends because Victoria has to go to another meeting. And this same work ethic is one which both David and Victoria have instilled in their children.<\/p>\n

But in this new, kinder era, one thing is certain: Victoria will be making sure they don\u2019t suffer, like she did, on the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As close as the Beckhams have traditionally been as a family, there is one secret that Victoria has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[118,18,117,19,17,127,438],"class_list":{"0":"post-116782","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-netflix","14":"tag-tvshowbiz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}