Victoria Beckham recalls losing confidence after media criticized her post-baby body

‘My first outing was on the front page of the newspaper, with arrows pointing to where I needed to lose weight,’ designer says

Victoria Beckham has opened up about a time when she didn’t feel so confident in the spotlight.

The former Spice Girls member, 50, recently spoke to Grazia about scrutiny from the media, and how it sometimes led her to feel insecure about her appearance. “I’ve had so much said about me and I’m sure that has robbed me of some experiences,” Beckham said in the interview published on May 28. “I never want to look like I’m complaining, but there were times in the past that I haven’t felt confident enough to sit on a beach and watch my children play.”

She recalled how a newspaper outlet ran a story about her post-partum body after the birth of her oldest son, Brooklyn Beckham, 25 years ago. “I remember after I had Brooklyn, my first outing was on the front page of the newspaper, with arrows pointing to where I needed to lose weight,” the fashion designer said. “Those things can affect how you feel and conduct yourself in public. Now, if paparazzi want to take a picture and say something – too bad, it doesn’t bother me in the same way.”

While the tabloid story made the now mother-of-four feel insecure at the time, these days she’s learned how to brush off public criticism. “You just become more accepting, don’t you? This is how I look. I’m going to make the best of it, work hard at it,” Beckham said.

She also noted that although she’s “very disciplined” in her day-to-day life, she does enjoy letting loose once in a while. “I’m not going to be one of these: ‘Ah, there are too many calories in a glass of wine,’ types. Whatever. Life’s too short. Let’s have a nice time,” she told the outlet.

In fact, one of the ways that the Victoria Beckham Beauty founder has shown fans some of these nice times is through her social media – where she’s been known to post a thirst trap of her husband, David Beckham, or a tutorial on how to achieve her signature smokey eye look.

Speaking to Grazia, she explained that by showing her playful side on social media, she’s able to challenge the long-held reputation that she’s a “steely-faced ice queen”.

“For so long, people had this opinion of me that I was this steely-faced ice queen because of the paparazzi pictures and the story that the media would paint,” Beckham said. “Through social media, people now see that that’s not me. I like to laugh at myself. There’s always humor in what we do. I think that’s key.”

In April, the style icon looked back at some of her old paparazzi pictures and red carpet appearances in honour of her 50th birthday. While Beckham was told she looked “grumpy and stern” in the photos, she admitted that she actually felt “nervous and insecure” at the time.

“I looked at some pictures of myself recently and was really struck by how happy I looked,” she said in an interview with The Sunday Times. “In the past I’ve always looked at those red carpet pictures of me and seen a woman who looks nervous and insecure.”

As a result, her facial expressions were misconstrued by the media. “Everyone else saw a woman who looked grumpy and stern – I suppose that’s how I got the reputation of being such a miserable cow,” she said.