Ringing in 25 years of marriage next month, David and Victoria Beckham have spent two decades building Brand Beckham and their star status has since become bigger than anyone could ever have imagined.
From the beginning, they have been the King and Queen of showbiz – titles they’ve been doggedly determined to own since 1999 when they sat on actual thrones for their super-size, showbiz wedding.
But now the golden couple have now been hit by every A-lister’s worst nightmare – a tell-all book – by none other than famed biographer and unofficial grim reaper for celebrity reputations, former BBC journalist Tom Bower.
The House of Beckham: Money, Sex and Power, which hit bookshelves on 20 June, leaves no-stone-unturned in its unearthing of all of the secrets and not-so-secret skeletons that Victoria and David had hoped they’d safely stuffed away in their bulging closets.
And the bombshell book couldn’t have hit at a worse time. Not only are they about to celebrate their big silver anniversary, but former England player David, 49, is now BFFs with none other than King Charles, Victoria, 50, is queen of her own fashion empire and their offspring – Brooklyn, 25, Romeo, 21, Cruz, 19, and 12-year-old Harper – have started spreading their gilded wings like the little superstar babies they were born to be.
Their star is shining brighter than ever (with a rumoured net worth of £360 million to boot) thanks to David’s carefully curated October Netflix documentary and their self-deprecating Super Bowl ad in February. But now the Beckhams have been forced to buckle up for another scandal.
Here, we look at the most sensational claims made by Bower in his book, which has led one reviewer to question, "Are Posh and Becks really this awful?"
Posh’s dad drove a limo but she expenses M&S crisps
Ok… we get it. A pack of crisps from Marks & Spencer is a little above price point than your average salt and vinegar chipsticks, unless it’s in a meal deal, but Bower uses Posh expensing this £1.70 (current market value) snack during a photo shoot as an example of just how stingy the Beckhams can reportedly be when it comes to their unwavering love of money.
David’s sexting needs a grammar check
While his penis is, according to Posh herself, the size of a "tractor exhaust pipe" – his smooth talking isn’t quite… on point. The book claims he once texted his former PA and alleged mistress, Rebecca Loos: "Just lay down and think of what I done to you when you was face down.” Thank goodness his balls are made of gold.
Posh sought advice on boob jobs from Jordan… in a Chinese restaurant
This really is as bizarre as it sounds. While Posh and glamour model Jordan, aka Katie Price, have always been sworn enemies, with the Spice Girl famously carolling, "Who let the dogs out?" at her nemesis back in the '90s, the unlikely duo are also said to have had a little toilet tete-a-tete over the size of Posh’s own
Bower alleges that Posh took “out her breasts” and showed them to Jordan while seeking advice about whether to have a boob job because David “likes big ones”.
David reportedly had affairs with five different women
The Beckham's Netflix documentary may have led an angry Rebecca Loos to finally have her say over their alleged affair, but Bower heavily hints that Becks’ affair with his former PA barely scratches the surface of his misdemeanours.
Drawing on previous reports, the book references the rumours that David has also been involved with beauty salon owner Danielle Heath and singer Katherine Jenkins, who has strenuously denied these allegations and says she has never been alone with him.
Addressing reports over his affair with Loos, David called the claims “ludicrous”, and when Danielle Heath’s claims later emerged, he added, “We are sick and tired of people trying to make money at the expense of our family…the allegations are completely and totally untrue”.
A woman called Sarah Marbeck also claims to have embarked on a two-year affair with Becks in 2004, but David has called her allegations “absurd and unsubstantiated”.
The couple led ‘separate lives’ at one low point in 2016
The book claims that, eight years ago, Posh and Becks’ marriage had hit such a low point that the couple were forced to live essentially separate lives. They allegedly agreed to a “business” relationship that would ensure they appeared to the world as a loving couple – until David allegedly put his golden boot right in it when he referred to their marriage as “hard work” during a TV interview.
“It was like a nuclear bomb had gone off. Her husband’s disloyalty baffled her,” writes Bower. “His truthfulness had destroyed her efforts to conjure up an image of happy families. Why, she sobbed, would David embarrass her?”
Posh was so distraught at David that she fled to a German spa (where she moisturised with her own blood)
The couple, of course, reunited (which Bower alleges was due to the need to salvage Brand Beckham) but not before Posh had flown to a remote European spa, where she received some much needed TLC…reportedly in the form of bathing under the moon and smothering herself with her own blood.
Top-trumping Kim Kardashian’s famous "vampire facial", Posh has previously revealed how she sought the help of a Dr Barbara Sturm, who took a sample of her own blood to turn into a moisturiser, for the very reasonable price tag of £1200.
Bower, however, claims Posh applied her wonder cream during “the hours of the full moon” after fleeing to Germany amidst her marriage turmoil.
Posh launched a search party for David at Glastonbury
Picture this. It’s 2017 and you have (reportedly) been partying until 5am with your best mate (in this case, it’s superstar agent and Liv Tyler’s ex, Dave Gardner) and a "harem" of attractive women, including a “glamorous Australian bikini model” and Lady Mary Charteris, who you may or may not have had dinner with at your local – Chiltern Firehouse – a few weeks ago.
Your wife (here Victoria Beckham), turns up from New York the next day and informs you she had been forced to launch a ‘search party’ for you because you had failed to reply to her calls and messages.
Bower elaborates on the #searchgate drama: “Within seconds, they were embroiled in a ferocious argument.... They looked quite miserable. But they managed to pose for the cameras”.