In the new documentary series on Netflix, Beckham opens up about her struggles with eating and her toxic relationship with food. She said that she became "very good at lying" as she battled an eating disorder.
Beckham recently appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast, she said to host Alex Cooper that she explained her struggles with food to her 14 year old daughter before her Netflix documentary was released.
"I’ve struggled with my weight since I was quite young. In the 90s I remember we didn’t know as much about food back then as we do now," she said. "It wasn’t so much of a conversation and I remember in the 90s, everybody was obsessed with fat free, fat free, fat free. And I remember being terrified to eat any fat, absolutely terrified…And so I think then going into the Spice Girls and having people talk about me so much and my weight… one minute I was ‘porky Posh’, and then I was ‘skinny Posh’, and it plays tricks with you," Beckham continued.
Beckham explained on the podcast that it was actually her husband, David Beckham, who helped her overcome her struggles with food. "David has always known that I’ve been very disciplined about the way that I eat, and I managed to turn myself… because I was too scared to talk to anyone, I didn’t feel that I could trust anyone at all, I managed to do it myself and turn an unhealthy obsession with food into a healthy relationship, meaning, understanding it’s about balance. It’s about being healthy, about working out," she said.
"And David helped me do that. David was the one that changed my workout around, I was doing cardio, cardio, cardio. All I wanted to do was burn, burn, burn (calories). He was the one that encouraged me to start weight training, and we work out together. And so, he’s always been so supportive, and I was very disciplined in the way that I eat, I’m healthy, I’m disciplined, and it’s about balance," she continued.
Beckham said that since the documentary aired on Netflix she has had many women contacting her saying that they relate to her struggles.
"But you know, just lastly on the eating thing, what is interesting is, I’ve had so many women message me, come up to me after seeing the documentary, and say how they can relate," she said.
Beckham also explained why she felt the need to explain the topic to her young daughter, "I’ve talked to Harper about it, obviously, because she’s obviously seeing the documentary, and little girls still obsess over food. It’s still a big conversation at school, and I think that if my experience with it and my story can help anyone or encourage anyone to talk, that’s another really good reason to have done this," she said.
Beckhma explained that she had spent some time talking to her daughter about it so that she would understand. "When you have an eating disorder, it makes you miserable, it is sad, it is lonely, it is all-consuming. I was present for many years, but not truly present. And that’s really tough, and you just got to talk about it," Beckham said.
