David and Victoria Beckham have been married for 25 years, but their union has faced significant challenges. The couple recently opened up about the “ups and downs” that nearly brought them to a breaking point during their 27-year relationship. Despite celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary last week, past cheating allegations and the strain of long-distance almost ended their marriage.
In April 2004, while David, 49, was playing for Real Madrid, a newspaper published allegations of an affair with former PA Rebecca Loos. A week later, Australian glamour model Sarah Marbeck claimed she had slept with David in Singapore during Manchester United’s tour in 2001. Six months after that, beautician Danielle Heath also claimed to have slept with David. The ongoing scandal prompted David to issue a statement: “During the past few months I have become accustomed to reading more and more ludicrous stories about my private life. The simple truth is that I am very happily married. I have a wonderful wife and two very special kids. There is nothing any third party can do to change these facts.”
At the time, David was living in Spain while Victoria remained in England with their sons Brooklyn and Romeo. Victoria stayed silent about the scandal and the couple continued to appear publicly, often photographed arm-in-arm. However, Victoria finally addressed the ordeal in David’s Netflix docuseries, Beckham, released last year.
Tearfully, Victoria admitted: “We were against each other,” as newspapers flashed on screen covering Rebecca Loos’ allegations. She said: “It was the hardest period for us because it felt like the world was against us. And here’s the thing; we were against each other, if I’m being completely honest. Up until Madrid, it felt like us against everybody else. But we were together. We had each other. But in Spain, it didn’t feel like we had each other either. It was incredibly difficult and affected me deeply.”
When asked by the director how they survived, David added: “I don’t know how we got through it, in all honesty. Victoria is everything to me. Seeing her hurt was incredibly difficult. But we are fighters. At that time, we needed to fight for each other and our family. What we had was worth fighting for. Ultimately, it’s our private life.”
Speaking after the documentary’s release, David admitted he still doesn’t know “how we got through it,” but believes their marriage survived because they “had each other.” On Jason Bateman’s SmartLess podcast, he said: “That’s one of the things we both, me and Victoria, probably get emotional about. After watching the documentary and everything was over, we looked at each other and said, ‘I don’t know how we got through the last 27 years,’ but we did. We have an amazing family, an amazing business, and we’re happy. Of course, when you’re with someone for that amount of time, you have your ups and downs. But at the end of the day, we were lucky because we had each other during those moments.”
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