For years, infidelity rumours have plagued football star David and his fashion designer wife, Victoria, but the couple are trying their best to rise above them on their current visit to Australia as they join fellow British power couple Prince Harry and Meghan at the Invictus Games for injured service personnel.
Despite an overloaded schedule, Victoria, 44, made the time to follow her husband abroad – but the trip has coincided with comments he made to Lisa Wilkinson on The Sunday Project, suggesting his marriage is “hard work”. “To have been married for the amount of time that we have, it’s always hard work,” David, who celebrated his 19-year anniversary in July, said.
“It becomes a little bit more complicated.”
Following these statements, The Sun reported the former Spice Girl was left humiliated and in “floods of tears” by her husband’s description of their marriage. A friend told the UK newspaper it was as though a “nuclear bomb had gone off ” in the Beckham household after David triggered renewed speculation about the state of their relationship.
“When Victoria was given the heads-up on Wednesday about David’s interview, she was absolutely devastated,” the friend said.
“She has no idea why he would say such insensitive things and publicly embarrass her like this. She was in pieces and spent the next two days crying. To say it’s not been the best of weeks is an understatement.” However, in the Australian interview, David also mentioned the couple’s children: daughter Harper, 7, and sons Cruz, 13, Romeo, 16, and Brooklyn, 19.
“Sometimes it’s the little things that make a big difference, and I’ve noticed that with my children,” he said.
“The thing we have to do is protect our children ... They want your time and they deserve your time. We are hard-working and we feel that is the right way to bring up our children, to prove and to show to them you have to work really hard to be successful.”
Victoria recently told the British edition of Vogue that she ignores salacious comments about her marriage. “People have been making things up about our relationship for 20 years, so David and I are pretty used to ignoring the nonsense and just carrying on as normal,” she said. “But these things have a wider effect on the people around us, and that’s unfair.”
“We both realise that we are stronger together than we are as individuals,” Victoria added. “Would either of us be in the position that we are in now had we not met and been together all those years ago? It’s all about the family unit. We are much stronger the six of us, than we would be if we were individuals. We respect that family bond and that is key.”
The family has experienced a rough trot of late. While they made their way to Australia, someone attempted to break into their Cotswolds property. CCTV footage published by Mail Online showed three people – one wearing a balaclava –near the sprawling home in Great Tew, Oxfordshire. The Telegraph in the UK reported that a spokesman for the Beckhams declined to comment.
Security issues aside, in September a source told WHO the complexities of the Beckhams’ marriage are no different to anyone else’s. “They have a real marriage, and if they have problems, they manage them like any other couple,” the source said.
