David Beckham Says His Netflix Docuseries ‘Beckham’ Helped Him Tackle ‘Mental Health Wounds’

Former soccer player and MLS team owner David Beckham speaks during an interview in the Manhattan borough of New York on Feb. 26, 2020. Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Former English football player David Beckham has offered insights into his experience making his 2023 Netflix docuseries, “Beckham,” saying that the project was instrumental in helping him confront some of his most deep-seated “mental health wounds.”

“Reflecting on both the highs and lows of my life and career was—at times—mentally and emotionally draining,” Beckham, 49, wrote in a recent guest column published in The Hollywood Reporter on Aug. 21.

Beckham expressed that he often felt uncomfortable and somewhat anxious during his introspective sessions with the documentary’s director, Fisher Stevens. Stevens previously directed “Palmer” (2021), “Before the Flood” (2016), and “Bright Lights” (2016), among other films. He is also known for his role in the HBO hit series “Succession.”

However, despite Beckham’s feelings of discomfort, the former football star said he found the experience to be therapeutic overall.

“I realized that I had pushed so many of these feelings and emotions aside for years,” he wrote. “I had always been taught to hold everything in and put on a brave face. This was the first time I had truly confronted some pretty monumental moments in my life.”

Feelings of Guilt

Released in October of last year, Netflix’s four-part special chronicles Beckham’s “meteoric rise from humble beginnings to global football stardom,” according to the series synopsis.

Beckham embarked on his two-decades-long football career in 1992, joining Manchester United at the age of 17. He went on to sign a four-year contract with Real Madrid, playing with the Spanish football club from 2003 to 2007. After spending five years with the L.A. Galaxy, Beckham closed out his career in 2013 with a five-month deal playing for the French first-league team Paris Saint-Germain.

Beckham concurrently played for England’s national football team from 1996 to 2009. During that time, he experienced one of the most controversial games of his career—a pivotal moment that Beckham reflected on in his Netflix docuseries.

During the 1998 World Cup, Beckham received a red card and was ejected from his match against Argentina after kicking his opponent, Diego Simeone. England went on to lose the game and was subsequently eliminated from the football tournament.

“I made a mistake in the 1998 World Cup, and I spent the next four years being shunned in my own country and received abuse at every game,” Beckham wrote in his guest column. “Obviously I am human and you take things personally, but I felt the most guilt for the pain it caused my family.”

In the Netflix special, Beckham and his wife, Victoria, a British fashion designer, recalled getting death threats in the wake of the scandal. The couple—who tied the knot in July 1999, four months after the birth of their first child, son Brooklyn—said their then-newborn baby was also subjected to the harassment.

“We were getting kidnapping threats right from when we had Brooklyn,” the former Spice Girls member said in the docuseries.

“Imagine having a baby and having death threats. David had to play knowing this was all going on. And I was on my own in an apartment with a baby. We did not know what to do. It felt like we were drowning.”

The moment Brooklyn was born, Beckham said he became overwhelmed with concerns regarding his family’s safety. “I all [of a] sudden thought, How am I going to protect him? What am I going to do to protect him?” Beckham said during the series.

“I was paranoid that someone was going to steal [Brooklyn]. You know it’s meant to be a happy moment. And it was a happy moment, of course. But I was worried. I didn’t want him to come into this life at a time where I was going through what I was going through.”

‘Moving Forward’

Although the docuseries did not provide Beckham with absolute closure, the former soccer player acknowledged that working on the project enabled him to forgive himself.

“After the premiere, my mum pulled me aside and reassured me, ‘You don’t need to feel bad anymore.’ Those words make me feel emotional to this day,” he wrote in his guest column.

Beckham also said that one of the biggest lessons he acquired throughout the series’ development was the crucial need for people to focus on their mental health.

“I wouldn’t have been able to make this series ten or even 5 years ago. I needed time and distance from my career to properly reconcile with my story and process everything I have been through,” he wrote. “In hindsight I realize that a big part of moving forward is to look back and reflect. I am incredibly proud of what we created.”