CELEBRITY
David and Victoria Beckham: Couple crisis with separate lives, no communication, but together for the brand
A new book - ‘The House of Beckham’ by Tom Bower - claims that the couple were once kept together by their vast combined brand.
David Beckham, soccer icon and Inter Miami president. Victoria Adams, pop star turned fashion designer. Both internationally famed but neither as powerful as their joint-brand: The Beckhams.
That fact is at the heart of a new book entitled ‘The House of Beckham’ which suggests that they were, at one point, living essentially separate lives as they battled through a tough spot in their relationship. From around 2016, author Tom Bower writes, David and Victoria barely spoke to each other and remained ‘together’ only to avoid destroying their brand.
Bower claims that the in-private split came in 2016, when David moved to Miami to focus on his new MLS soccer team and Victoria remained in London. He writes: “Although the Beckhams could not hide their separate lives, they stuck together to support the brand.”
The book continues: “During London Fashion Week that year, she asked Beckham to return to London for a dinner in her Dover Street shop. By the end of the celebration she must have wished he had stayed in America... Morosely, he sat staring at her guests. Some whispered that the two had been embroiled earlier in a foul-mouthed row.”
Most incredibly, the book alleges that David and Victoria’s publicists had, at one point, began briefing against the other member of the power couple. Reading one particularly unflattering report about him in a newspaper, the book claims: “Beckham raged that Victoria and her publicist were waging a media war against him.”
“Reflecting the acrimony between the Beckhams, the two publicists began to compete rather than collaborate to promote their own client,” it reads. “Both fed negative stories about the other side to their favourite tabloid journalists.”
How much are the Beckhams worth?
As a soccer player and a pop star, David and Victoria Beckham were the quintessential 1990s power couple and they enjoyed vast rewards from those careers. David went on to captain his nation and played for the likes of Manchester United, Real Madrid and AC Milan. Victoria, meanwhile, was a part of one of the most successful music groups of her generation, enjoying huge global fame.
Those days are now far away but the Beckhams have seen their business interests, and their bank account, expand exponentially.
The Sunday Time Rich List values their combined net work at a staggering £455 million, roughly $578 million. David has seen his shrewd MLS investment explode in value in the past 12 months, while Victoria is now a bone fide luxury fashion designer.
There are whiskey brands, cosmetics ranges, and a whole host of commercial and advertising deals with many of the world’s most covetable brands. Adidas, Tudor Watches, Pepsi, Jaguar, Maserati and countless other have sought to capture some of the Beckhams’ stardust. Last month Hugo Boss signed a multi-year collaboration with David Beckham, it won’t be the last.