Victoria Beckham said “now is the time to tell my story” as she reflects on how her fashion business “struggled” in the past.
The former Spice Girl and designer, 51, is the subject of a new three-part Netflix series, which follows in the footsteps of her husband’s hit series Beckham.
On why now felt like the right time, she said: “The public has read how much my business has struggled over the years and the headlines that I’ve had.
“And that’s fact, the business has struggled, so I’ve talked a lot about that (here) but I’ve fixed those problems now and it’s taken a long time.
“We’ve restructured the business, and for all of these reasons, now is the time to tell my story.”
The series called Victoria Beckham charts the businesswoman’s early life and music career with the Spice Girls, while following her as she prepares for a high-stakes fashion show at Paris Fashion Week.
She said: “At first I said no, but then I took a bit of time and I really thought long and hard about it.
“I have been so defined by when I was in the Spice Girls, which was only a four-year period in my life, whereas fashion I’ve been in for coming up to two decades.
“Up until recently, I was aware I was still fighting the preconceptions because of my previous career, and always being mindful of the noise and just focusing on building the (fashion and beauty) brand.
“I have been keeping my head down and really focusing on the product, whether that’s fashion or beauty, so that the product spoke for itself.
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“I feel that it’s only quite recently that I am confident enough to talk about my time in the Spice Girls, to talk about my family, to talk about my journey, and I feel that only now can I do that with confidence, knowing it’s not going to have an effect on the brand that I’ve spent two decades building.
“I’ve now earned my place in this industry, and I have to work hard to maintain that.
“The other reason is I love this industry, so if I can use my voice to shine a light on the incredible talents, passion, hard work and just how multifaceted it is, then that’s great.”
Lady Beckham said the process of making the series has turned her into a “reformed control freak”.
She said: “When I did my master interviews, of which there were quite a few, it was the first time I’ve ever been forced to look back.
“Sometimes it made me smile, sometimes it was frustrating because I’m trying to remember things that maybe I’ve blocked out, there’s a few triggers along the way.
“This has been like a year’s therapy for me. I feel that I went into this process calling myself a control freak and I’ve come out the other end a reformed control freak.
“I haven’t had the control with this documentary that I have with most elements of my life, and I feel much more content coming out the other end.”
In the documentary, Lady Beckham remembers creating her fashion label and says: “When I first started this fashion business, 18 years ago, I didn’t know a lot about the industry. I was scared.
“I was scared because I loved fashion and it was always my dream, but I knew what people thought. ‘She was a pop star, she’s married to a footballer. Who does she think she is?’”
The new series includes interviews with fashion figures including Anna Wintour, Donatella Versace and Tom Ford, who says of Lady Beckham’s step into the fashion world: “I think a lot of people didn’t take it seriously, I think a lot of people thought ‘Oh OK Victoria Beckham’s starting a collection, someone else will probably design it, she’ll stick her name on it’.”
David Beckham is also interviewed and speaks about her business going into debt.
“For her to have to come to me and say ‘We need some more money, the business needs more money’, that was hard for both of us,” he says.
Victoria Beckham is streaming on Netflix on October 9.
