[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Victoria Beckham is opening up about a difficult battle in her life.
In the new Netflix docuseries titled Victoria Beckham, which dropped on Thursday, the fashion designer made rare comments about her struggles with an eating disorder. She shared that felt a ton of pressure regarding her weight due to the hurtful commentary about her appearance following the birth of her first child, Brooklyn Beckham, in 1999:
“I was weighed on national television when Brooklyn was 6 months old. ‘Get on those scales’… ‘Have you lost the weight?’”
Jeez. That is terrible. While Victoria laughed and joked about it on television, she didn’t actually find it funny. In reality, it hurt a lot:
“We laugh about it and we joke about it when we’re on television, but I was really, really young and that hurts.”
Related: Brooklyn Beckham Breaks Silence On Family Feud! Kinda…
Soon, Victoria “really started to doubt myself and not like myself because” she allowed the negativity to get to her:
“I didn’t know what I saw when I looked in the mirror. You lose all sense of reality. I’ve been everything from ‘Porky Posh’ to ‘Skinny Posh’.”
Oof. Because of her eating disorder, the Spice Girls member admitted she became “very good at lying.” In fact, she “was never honest” with her own parents about what she was dealing with. And looking back, she knows she was “controlling” the media’s criticism of her image in an “incredibly unhealthy way.” Victoria added:
“It really reflects you when you’re being told constantly you’re not good enough. And I suppose that’s been with me my whole life.”
For her husband, David Beckham, he saw how many women, including Victoria, were unfairly placed under a microscope in the early 2000s when it came to their bodies and more:
“People felt it was okay to criticize a woman for her weight, for what she’s doing for what she’s wearing. There were a lot of things happening in TV then that wouldn’t happen now, that can’t happen now.”
We certainly never want to see anyone be forced to weigh themselves on national television again! It was so cruel to do! The former soccer player went on to say that the Victoria he knew disappeared due to the harsh comments about her image during that time:
“My Victoria that I knew, sits at home in track suit, smiling laughing, having a glass of wine. That started to go purely because of the criticism that she was getting.”
Just heartbreaking. We’re sending all our love to Victoria. It’s never an easy thing to deal with and open up about, even all these years later.
If you’re struggling with an eating disorder, there is help available. Consider visiting or call their hotline at (800)-931-2237 for resources.
[Image via Netflix/YouTube, WENN/ Peter Wilcock]