Infidelity is the bogeyman in most marriages. Therapists say it is not the cheating, but the lying that destroys unions, undermining trust and long-term relationship health. At one end you have Chris Watts, who killed his pregnant wife and two young daughters because he wanted to start a new life with his girlfriend, and we’ve all made up our minds about an OJ Simpson or a Shrien Dewani. At the other end, you have couples who pose up a storm on Insta, those lovey-dovey pics that make us go uh-ho, something’s not right.
In the carefully curated public-relation world of celebs, who is going to be honest? Stars who divorce do so immediately after a romantic holiday in the Alps or Aligarh, so that our antenna is always up when pairs pucker up in pics. Most interviews, memoirs and documentaries have that decision to make—do we tell the truth to a faceless mass of people or lie to maintain image?
The biggest draw of the recent Beckham documentary are not just the lovely camera angles that show David and Victoria in casual attire lounging on their sofas, but the vulnerability they readily display when it comes to talking about how they always put family first despite all odds. Unlike the other Netflix documentary, Harry & Meghan, where the twosome put up a self-conscious romcom, Posh and Becks give us a peek into the real ‘them’. Which includes his famous fling with Rebecca Loos and how the Beckhams weathered that storm.
From the beginning, when David pops in to ask Victoria what car her father dropped her to school in, to her honest annoyance about shifting from the UK to Madrid, then to LA and Paris, they pull us right into their life. Once the Loos news broke in 2004, the celeb couple closeted themselves in a resort to talk things out before flying off for a holiday. “Victoria is my everything,” he says, adding he couldn’t bear to see her hurting. Victoria says that was the toughest time of her life—not dismissing the other woman as someone of no consequence.
The hard work that goes into a marriage, it’s here. This has ultimately been the victory of the Beckham show: no pulling wool over the viewer’s eyes. They are candid about their ups, but they are more candid about their downs. And that not only makes for good television, but also gives us authentic takeaway.
Instead of pretending nothing ever happened or overshare lurid details, they offer a family portrait we can appreciate. Maybe that dance in the end with a cheesy song was too much, but them sitting across a table with their four kids, eating and chatting, did leave a good taste in our mouths.
Shinie Antony
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shinieantony@gmail.com