David and Victoria Beckham open up about ‘trauma’ over ‘kidnapping threats’ sent to their newborn son
“Imagine having a baby and having death threats"
In their new Netflix documentary series, David and Victoria Beckham have opened up about the ‘trauma’ caused by ‘kidnapping threats’ that were sent to their son, Brooklyn, when he was born.
The Beckhams are arguably one of the most high profile families in the world right now, hanging out with fellow A-List celebs like Anna Wintour, Kim Kardashian and Gigi Hadid. The family of six, headed by oldest brother Brooklyn, 24, then Romeo, 21, Cruz, 18, and Harper Seven, aged 12, who recently shared an ‘affectionate’ moment with her dad, are now even more well-known thanks to their four-part Netflix documentary series Beckham.
The show has many people wondering where David Beckham lives or where Rebecca Loos is now after her rumoured affair with the footballer. Others are questioning if Gary Neville and David Beckham are still friends but we here are still getting over the awful retelling of how Victoria and David received 'kidnapping threats' aimed at their newborn son when they welcomed Brooklyn into the world back in 1999.
In the documentary, which was released on 4 October, Victoria shared, "We were getting kidnapping threats right from when we had Brooklyn. I mean, you can’t even explain how that feels, because we couldn’t hide.
"These are things that, now it’s coming back to me, I realise why I found it stressful doing these interviews because I’ve blocked so much of it out, and I think David has too.
"But now it’s coming back to me. 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."
David went on to reveal that he would sleep by the front door when Brooklyn was a baby in case anything happened. He shared, "That night, Brooklyn slept next to Victoria. Victoria was like, 'Come and squeeze on the bed with me,' and I said, 'Absolutely not.'
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"I'm sleeping with my head against the door because I was paranoid someone was going to steal him. It's meant to be a happy moment, and it was, of course. But I was worried."
Reliving the memories visibly stressed the fashion-mogul and her body language immediately changed when she spoke about the weight the terrifying ordeal had left on her.
The impact of going back to this horrible time is one that has been very 'stressful' for Victoria, a source recently told OK! Magazine and it led the couple to question whether or not they actually wanted to continue with the documentary project.
The source revealed, "It was a difficult decision for Victoria and David about whether to go ahead with the documentary or not. But for Victoria, it was a sort of therapy," they said.
"It was important for her to share her story, it wasn’t about showing people how strong they were, but showing her human side.
“It was easier at times for David, but for her it was difficult to open up because she buries everything. They don’t need the money, but this was important to Victoria for people to know the real her, and to know what they’ve been through as a family.”
According to reports in Business Insider, the kidnapping threats were sent by people annoyed over David's 'infamous red card' moment at the 1998 World Cup which happened the year before Brooklyn was born.
During the game, Beckham was sent off on a red card after kicking a rival player on the Argentinian side. Argentina then went on to win the game and England were eliminated from the rest of the World Cup. Beckham was just one member of the team who faced threats from England's football fans over the team's loss with the player revealing that a fellow teammate also received bullets in the mail.
Charlie Elizabeth Culverhouse is a news writer for Goodtoknow, specialising in family content. She began her freelance journalism career after graduating from Nottingham Trent University with an MA in Magazine Journalism, receiving an NCTJ diploma, and earning a First Class BA (Hons) in Journalism at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute. She has also worked with BBC Good Food and The Independent.