Seven unexpected revelations in Netflix’s David Beckham documentary

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As far as free kicks go, they don’t come much easier than making a documentary about David Beckham. At one point the most recognisable face on the planet, Beckham is a subject ripe for interrogation.

A gifted footballer with a Spice Girl wife, he spent most of his career playing for Manchester United and Real Madrid, two of the biggest clubs in the world, eventually transcending the game that made him famous. So, it is hardly surprising that Netflix has delivered Beckham, a four-part documentary examining his journey from boy to brand.

What is surprising, however, is how much we learn about a man whose life has been public property for over four decades. Here are the seven most unexpected things in Beckham.

David Beckham is a beekeeper who makes his own honey

It’s not unusual for rich people to have weird hobbies, but who here might’ve guessed that David Beckham makes his own honey? The first episode opens with a candid segment of the Beckhams at home, with David tending to his bees, in total beekeeper getup. Perhaps more shocking is that the 47-year-old has been working on a brand of honey. Turns out that wife Victoria, a proven marketing genius, has even come up with a name for the product: DB Sticky Stuff. When asked if he has other unexpected hobbies, David says: “Lego”.

Yes, that is David Beckham standing with Hugo from Succession.Credit: Netflix

It’s directed by Hugo from Succession

Sitting down to watch a documentary about David Beckham, you don’t expect to find yourself surrounded by reminders of Succession, but Waystar Royco is all over Beckham in more ways than one. Fisher Stevens, the actor and director who most recently starred as Waystar Royco’s “woof woof” PR executive Hugo in Succession, directs the documentary. This is not as strange as it sounds; Stevens has runs on the board (he won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for The Cove in 2010) and is a long-time football fan. According to an interview with Esquire Magazine, Stevens was inspired to tackle the subject after talking with Succession creator Jesse Armstrong. “We would talk about football daily, and he said, ‘You have to do it.’ He’s a genius,” said Stevens.

A young David Beckham with his mother Sandra (left) and father, Ted (centre). The Netflix documentary explores David’s relationship with his father.Credit: Netflix

There are some daddy issues

Beckham’s upbringing has long been positioned as an idyllic working-class dream: a humble kid raised by a hairdresser mother and a kitchen-fitter father. But the documentary removes the rose-coloured glasses, forcing its subject to reflect on the relationship between a father’s obsession and his son’s success. “It was all about control,” concedes David, who recounts being fed raw eggs as a scrawny teen to “beef up”.

Stevens also tries (and fails) to encourage Ted to re-examine whether his singular focus might’ve been too much for someone so young. “I was hard, but it turned out to be the right thing,” says Ted.

Posh and Becks, at the height of Spice Girls mania. Victoria told David she was pregnant the night before he was sent off.Credit: Netflix

David learned Victoria was pregnant the night before his infamous send-off at the 1998 World Cup

David Beckham saw red against Argentina at the same stage of the 1998 men’s World Cup.Credit: AP

In a career punctuated by highs, there’s no denying Beckham’s most infamous low: being sent off for kicking Diego Simeone during the 1998 World Cup finals against Argentina. The incident sparked enormous outrage in England; newspapers declared him public enemy number one, and effigies of the footballer were burnt outside pubs.

In Beckham, he reveals that the night before the game, Victoria, who was touring America with the Spice Girls, phoned him with the news. “She told me she was pregnant,” he said, adding that he “could not have been happier”.

Beckham concedes his focus shifted but believes it did not impact what happened against Argentina. But Beckham’s former teammate Gary Neville isn’t quite so sure: “I just wish he’d turned his phone off for one night.”

The Madrid affair is kind of addressed, but not really

Rebecca Loos is one name David Beckham probably never wants to hear again, which probably explains why she isn’t actually mentioned by name in the documentary. Loos was hired as Beckham’s personal assistant when he transferred to Real Madrid in July 2003. She would later claim to have had an affair with him, selling her story to the British tabloid newspaper News of the World. The Beckhams rarely speak about the allegations, and even in the documentary, they address them indirectly. Victoria calls it “the hardest period for us because it felt like the world was against us,” while David keeps it more vague. “I felt physically sick every day when I opened my eyes, ‘How am I going to do this?’”

David Beckham and wife Victoria wore purple at their wedding reception in 1999.

More like Funny Spice? Victoria is hilarious

As part of the Spice Girls, Victoria was the posh one, but perhaps she should’ve been the funny one. While David comes across as nice enough, Victoria steals the show, displaying an ability to look back at the insanity of their lives with a sense of humour.

When forced to discuss the purple suits she chose for their terrifyingly gaudy wedding, she says, “But it was fun!” Regarding the thrones they sat on: “OK, I don’t know where the thrones came from.” But perhaps the most likable thing about Victoria is that she seems to be one of few people in England who always has been, and always will be, genuinely unmoved by the fact he was really good at football. “I don’t care about football now, and I didn’t care about football then.”

Beckham’s problematic Qatari deal doesn’t make the final cut

For a squeaky-clean guy, one of Beckham’s biggest public missteps was being named the face of the Qatar World Cup in a deal worth $277 million. The former England captain’s endorsements included a promotional film for Visit Qatar and serving as an ambassador for the country despite Qatar’s repressive stance on LGBTQ+ rights, its human rights record and allegations of mistreatment of migrant workers.

David Beckham’s ambassadorship for Qatar came under fire.Credit: JLM

Beckham’s decision was met with widespread backlash, given he previously worked alongside the LGBTQIA+ communities in the UK. This feels like an episode of his otherwise glittering career that is worth exploring, but Qatar-gate doesn’t make the final cut. It’s worth noting that Beckham is a producer on the film, and his production company, Studio 99, is mentioned in the opening credits. Speaking to Esquire, Stevens maintains he had the final cut, and Qatar came up but didn’t feel relevant. “I talked to him about Qatar. I excluded it from the film not because of whatever his answer was. I didn’t have room for it,” he says. “In the end, I didn’t think it was important to our story.”

Find more of the author’s work here. Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Instagram at @thomasalexandermitchell and on Twitter @_thmitchell.

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