David Beckham Netflix director on asking footballer about marriage ‘difficulties’: ‘It wasn’t pleasant’
David and Victoria Beckham discussed the “difficulties” in their marriage in a new Netflix documentary, the director has revealed.
The pair are both interviewed in Beckham, a four-part documentary about the life and career of former England player David.
In a new interview with The Sunday Times, director Fisher Stevens was asked whether he spoke to the footballer about the harder parts of his marriage, referred to as “rumoured infidelity scandals”.
“It wasn’t pleasant, but we got into it,” Stevens said.
“For me, I approached it as, ‘How did your marriage stay together?’ and you’ll see how he responds. I talked with both of them about the difficulties they went through.”
Producer John Battsek added: “They were both signed up to telling us whatever we wanted to know. I’m sure you’ll say, ‘Of course you would say that.’ But they were. There was no, ‘You will not ask that or do that.’
“Fisher and I thought that might be the case, but we were clear from the start that we would only do this if we could go in any direction we wanted. And we did.”
David and Victoria have been married for 24 years. They began their romance in 1997, when Victoria was performing in the Spice Girls and David was playing with Manchester United.
Elsewhere in the documentary, which is released on 4 October, Victoria recalled when she first began dating the sports star and how she was told to keep their relationship out of the public eye.
In a teaser clip from Beckham, Victoria said: “My manager kept saying, ‘Try and keep it under wraps.’ So we would meet in car parks, and that’s not as seedy as it sounds.”
The teaser then cuts to a clip of David, who cheekily added: “Classic.”
In the documentary, David’s mother also revealed that she believed her son would “lose everything” when he began a relationship with Victoria at the height of his soccer career.
“We were worried he would lose everything he worked for because football had always come first and then all of a sudden it wasn’t,” his mother Sandra Georgina West explained.
The description of Beckham reads: “David Beckham is one of the most known names on the planet, yet few people know who he really is.
“From his humble working-class beginnings in east London, his drive and determination to win, and the battle to find balance between ambition, love and family, David’s story is one of immense ups and downs. The series takes you on that rollercoaster and builds a surprising, personal and definitive story of one of the most recognisable and scrutinised athletes of all time.”
Beckham is released on Netflix on Wednesday 4 October.