David and Victoria Beckham welcomed baby Brooklyn in 1999, but the happy news came just hours before the Manchester United star made one of the biggest mistakes of his footballing career
June 30, 1998, was one of the worst days of David Beckham’s life. His “moment of madness” during the England v Argentina World Cup match saw him kick Diego Simeone, earning him a red card and the title of the nation’s villan.
The country’s reaction and the abuse he received in the following months sent him into a state of depression, but while his personal and professional life was at rock bottom there was also something pretty amazing happening. The night before the fateful game, his then fiancee Victoria Adams called to tell him she was pregnant with their first child. Recalling the conversation in their new Netflix show Beckham, the Spice Girl said: “I told David the night before the game.
“He was so, so happy, we both were and there was never any doubt in my mind that I should tell him. I mean, it was what we wanted and he could not have been happier.” So in the days after being shown the red card to deafening boos from the crowd, when David was being comforted by his parents, he also got to tell them they were going to be grandparents. But the rollercoaster of emotions meant his dad’s reaction probably wasn’t what he was expecting. While he was of course delighted by the news, he also understood it was going to be a difficult time. On the Netflix show, his dad Ted revealed he said: “Oh blimey, you couldn’t have picked a worse time.”
David and Victoria both spoke candidly about the abuse they suffered after his red card in the four-part docuseries. Victoria, who was just 23 at the time, admitted she’s not still forgiven the people who bullied her husband. She told the camera: “I mean, the absolute hate, the public bullying, to another level. He was depressed, absolutely clinically depressed. I still want to kill these people.”
David added: “What I went through was so extreme. The whole country hated me. Hated me. It changed my life. I felt very vulnerable and alone. Wherever I went I got abuse every single day. People look at you in a certain way, spit at you, abuse you, come up to your face and say some of the things that they said. That was difficult.”
