'Posh and Becks' Deal With Fame's Downside
April 25, 2003 — -- Take a dashing, wildly popular British sports star who wears diamond earrings and headbands, then add a beautiful pop singer who has a penchant for designer clothes, and you have created an English obsession.
Meet the Beckhams — 29-year-old Victoria, better known as Posh Spice of the '90s pop phenomenon the Spice Girls, and David, at 27, already a soccer legend with world famous Manchester United.
They're rich and glamorous, a match made in tabloid heaven. As Victoria Newton of The Sun, one of Britain's most popular tabloids, put it, "It was like a dream come true." Newton said, "They're now our royalty. Once Princess Diana died we didn't have anybody else to put on the front pages every day."
Bonnie Fuller, editor in chief of Us magazine, describes the pair as the J. Lo and Ben Affleck of the British world.
The couple's new multimillion-dollar estate in London, dubbed Beckingham Palace, is worthy of their status. They're enjoying the glow of life on the front pages, but Britain's most glamorous couple has learned some tough lessons about life in the spotlight.
"I think it … it's very, very difficult, because obviously everything they say isn't always going to be positive," Victoria tells 20/20's Deborah Roberts. David agreed, saying, "It's sometimes hard to cope with. But, you know, we've got used to it now. We understand that it's part and parcel of, you know, us being famous."
Indeed, fame on this grand scale is what Victoria dreamed of growing up in suburban London as a timid, awkward teenager yearning for stardom. "I wanted to be one of the kids from Fame. I just wanted to be famous. I wanted to be a dancer. Then I wanted to be a singer," she said.
Her dream was fulfilled nine years ago when she answered an ad to audition for an all-girl singing group, which would become the sensation of the decade called the Spice Girls. They struck gold with their first single and later went on to sell 40 million records.
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