Victoria Beckham felt it was important to share her past eating disorder struggles with her teenage daughter ahead of discussing them publicly.
The 51-year-old mother of four shared details about her food and body image issues in her new self-titled Netflix docuseries. But prior to the series’ release, she took the time to speak with her daughter, Harper Seven, 14, about the topic.
“I’ve talked to Harper about it, obviously, because she’s obviously seen the documentary,” Victoria said on the Wednesday, Oct. 22 episode of Call Her Daddy. “And little girls still obsess over food. It’s still a big conversation at school.”
She noted that she told Harper — whom Victoria shares with former soccer star David Beckham — prior to the teen attending the docuseries premiere.
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Harper Beckham and Victoria Beckham attend the 2024 Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year Awards,
“I talked to her because I hadn’t seen the final edit until the premiere… I thought that this might have been left in because obviously I knew that I talked about it. And so I just spent a bit of time talking to her about it so she could understand,” she explained.
The fashion designer noted to podcast host Alex Cooper that she believes it’s her duty to further the conversation surrounding eating disorders and said she’s glad the discussion was included in the series.
“When you have an eating disorder, it makes you miserable,” she recalled. “It is sad. It is lonely. It is all-consuming. I was present for many years, but not truly present. And, you know, that’s really tough, and you just gotta talk about it.”
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Victoria Beckham, Mel C, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell and Mel B from The Spice Girls
Since the docuseries’ release earlier this month, the former Spice Girl said she’s received lots of positive feedback for opening up in that way.
“What is interesting is I’ve had so many women message me, come up to me after seeing the documentary and say how they can relate,” she continued. “And I think that if my experience with [an eating disorder] and my story can help anyone or encourage anyone to talk, that’s another really good reason to have done this.”
The former Spice Girl also recalled the early body shaming she received during the interview, saying, “I was told I was too fat to even be on the stage, and that gave me a thick skin.”
“Going into the Spice Girls and having people talk about me so much and my weight…one minute I was Porky Posh and then I was Skinny Posh…it plays tricks with you and I didn’t know what I saw when I looked in the mirror,” she said. “I had no idea. You lose all sense of reality, and it is so consuming. It is so tiring, and it takes over.”
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Victoria Beckham at Marc Jacobs Spring 2008 during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at the New York State Armory on September 10, 2007 in New York City.
She added that she didn’t confide in anyone about her struggle, but said that she’s been able to turn things around in recent years.
“David has always known that I’ve been very disciplined about the way that I eat, and I managed to turn myself — because I was too scared to talk to anyone. I didn’t feel that I could trust anyone at all — I managed to do it myself and turn an unhealthy obsession with food into a healthy relationship.”
She added that her retired soccer star husband helped her maintain a healthier lifestyle in recent years.
“It’s about being healthy, about working out. And David helped me do that,” she told Cooper. “You know, David was the one who changed my workout around. I was doing cardio, cardio, cardio. All I wanted to do was burn, burn, burn. He was the one who encouraged me to start weight training, and we work out together.”