Rebecca Loos has opened up about the “horrific” trolling she’s received after receiving “no warning” about David and Victoria Beckham’s Netflix documentary.
Back in 2003, the footballer’s former assistant Rebecca claimed they had an affair while he was playing for Real Madrid – which he vehemently denied.
David and his wife Victoria spoke out about the allegations in their four-part series Beckham, which joined Netflix earlier this year.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain hosts Richard Madeley and Kate Garraway, Rebecca explained that she feels she needs to “stand up for herself” and tell “her side of the story”.
She said: “When this documentary came out and everything happened that happened, after the documentary came out, I tried very hard to just let it go and get on with my life.”
“But it just really bothered me at the little angle, at how he’d played the narrative and how misleading it is and how it’s making me look like the bad person.”
“He’s not denied it, he’s never denied it. He has said that my claims are ludicrous. Ludicrous is not denying, ludicrous can be truth.”
“Ludicrous is a term used by lawyers to give to their clients when they don’t want to admit to the truth,” Rebecca continued. “They say ‘Use the word ludicrous, it will deflect attention’.”
She also told how she had “no warning” that the alleged affair would be brought up in Netflix’s Beckham.
Rebecca continued: “But that’s okay. I mean it’s their life, their documentary. So yeah… I didn’t give them any warning when I went public. So there we go, so now we’re even. Fair’s fair.”
Reflecting on the online reaction, she revealed: “I woke up to all these horrific messages on Instagram being called horrible names, which I won’t repeat on the morning show, but just awful trolling.”
“I’ve heard about the trolling before of course, I’ve read about it in papers with other people and never experienced it, because of course 20 years ago we didn’t have social media and there’s two sides to social media.”
“I love social media because I’m somebody who’s been in the public eye and I’ve had journalists and TV presenters and people talk about me, you know without me actually having a voice and what social media gives me is my own voice. ‘This is me, this is my life, these are my passions’ so of course I like it but of course it’s a double-edged sword.”
Sharing her thoughts on how Victoria came across in Beckham, Rebecca said: “Well at the beginning I thought she came across really natural and I thought she was quite honest.”
“I’ve since learned that the documentary has been made by his production company and it has been produced by his best friend and they have their Director of Brand Beckham Holdings behind it.”
“So, now I do think a lot of it is kind of rehearsed, probably. But I thought she came across well.”
“I wish I had done it in a different way. I’ve always said this. At the time the advice I was given was this is the way to go about it.”
“20 years ago, and the new generation don’t know this, all the power was in the media. If anything was to happen it was through the newspapers.”
“Nowadays, thank God, the power is with the lawyers and everyone goes legal, which is a much safer route. I kind of wish I’d taken that route, of course, but I can’t go back in time.”
Discussing David’s response to the allegations at the time, Rebecca responded: “I think there are very many men who are happily married and also have affairs. So I think for some men that’s what makes their marriage happy.”
“I don’t think I really want to say anything to them, but what I would like to say is, I think by him not acknowledging responsibility, he is giving a message that it’s okay to behave like this, and I think that is a wrong message to give.”
“My message is, you make mistakes, own up to them, say sorry, move on. That’s what I’m teaching my kids. I’m teaching my kids… Just teaching kids, you know, be honest, be truthful and apologise and then ‘boom’ you can move on with life.”
“I did tell [my children] about the documentary and I told them about what had been said and how it made mummy feel, ‘I feel that it’s very unfair because of the way I’m being treated now and the bullying I’m getting, and the trolling and I want to say something and I’m going to do an interview so there might be some media and how do you feel about that?’”
“I think life’s a journey. We learn, we grow, we make mistakes, we learn our best lessons in life from our mistakes. It’s what forms us, it’s what makes us and I really do feel I’m someone who’s grown and changed. I’m 46 years old now, of course, thankfully I’m a different person to when I was 26.”
“There have been very dark times and there have been lonely times and they have led to the happiest times of my life. I try to tell people this when they’re in a dark place. It’s like… ‘you’ve got to go through this, it’s gonna take you somewhere.’”
“I live in a tiny town with 2,500 people, in the mountains in Norway, and I used to teach senior yoga to these sort of 70, 80 year olds.”
“They would come up to me in Norwegian and say ‘But are you really happy here? Do you really like it here?’ And… ‘If only you knew, I am loving life. If only you knew what life was like before.’ So yes, everything happens for a reason.”
