As pop legend and fashion powerhouse Victoria Beckham turns 50 next week, we take a look at her life, loves and amazing achievements
WORDS: LESLEY JONES PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES, REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
MANY HAPPY RETURNS
Victoria Beckham once said, “I was never a natural. I got there in the end because I did believe that if you work hard enough, then you can achieve a lot.”
Pop icon, fashion designer, OBE, original WAG, super mum and devoted wife to one of the world’s sexiest men… as she prepares to mark her 50th birthday on 17 April, this is one woman who can look back at her life knowing she has done just that in her first half century.
With rumours that Victoria may be planning a star-studded party to mark her milestone birthday, one thing is for certain – whether she chooses to go glam or just kick off those famous heels and relax at home on either side of the pond, her beloved family will be at the heart of her celebrations.
Husband David, 48, and sons Brooklyn, 25, Romeo, 21, Cruz, 19, and 12-year-old daughter Harper are at the centre of Victoria’s world. And the young stage school pupil, who dreamt of one day becoming a dancer, keeps family close and her work focus strong, flying between her main residence in London, beauty offices in New York and her second home in Florida, where David co-owns soccer team Inter Miami FC.
Victoria Caroline Adams was brought up in Goff ’s Oak, Hertfordshire, with parents Jackie and Tony and her younger siblings Louise and Christian. The family owned a successful electrical wholesale company and were comfortably off, but it was instilled in Victoria that she had to work for success.
Describing herself as a “gap-toothed ugly duckling with spots” she has since revealed she was relentlessly bullied by her classmates but, nevertheless, at the age of eight she decided she wanted to be in the spotlight after a family trip to see Alan Parker’s 1980 film Fame.
She started dance lessons and leaving school “with five GCSEs and the cookery prize” she went to Laine Theatre Arts college in Epsom, supporting herself by doing promotional work; spraying perfume on customers in a shopping mall and handing out balloons at DIY stores.
Then, she spotted an advert in showbiz bible The Stage that would change her life forever. It asked, “R U 18-23 with the ability to sing/dance?”
The subsequent successful audition to be a part of a new girlband saw her meet Ge
