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"I remember being mentally bullied, physically bullied, literally pushed around," Beckham recalled for Allure's latest cover story, sharing that her "entire school life was a misery."
It's hard to believe anyone would dare mess with Posh Spice, but Victoria Beckham has revealed that kids were not so kind to her when she was growing up.
In an interview with Allure for its December 2023 cover story, the fashion designer recalled being "mentally" and "physically" bullied in school, saying she "never fitted in socially."
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View Story"I've never really told my story about being the underdog at school. I was bullied -- a lot,'" Beckham, said, sharing that she was 11 or 12 at the time. "I never fitted in socially. And when anybody is different, kids can be really mean. I remember being mentally bullied, physically bullied, literally pushed around."
While she would grow up to become a member of the Spice Girls, the 49-year-old said people would criticize and doubt her potential as a performer.
"I've always had to work really hard. At school, I had to work really hard to get less-than-average grades," Beckham told Allure. "When I was dancing and singing, I had to work really hard to be good, but was never good enough. I was an alright dancer. I was an alright singer. People were very quick to say, 'You can't sing.' I can joke about it better than anybody. I’ll take the mickey out of myself."
"I mean, obviously, I could sing a little. But I always had to work very hard just to be okay at anything," she continued, before pointing out that "that's why the Spice Girls worked: Individually we were underdogs, but collectively we worked."
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Since she was bullied as a child, the Victoria Beckham Beauty founder -- who shares kids Brooklyn, 24, Romeo, 21, Cruz, 18, and Harper, 12, with husband David Beckham -- shared that she has raised her own children to be kind to other children.
"I have always said to [my daughter] Harper, 'If you see a little girl sitting on her own in the playground, that was your mum. Go up and talk to that little girl,'" she told Allure.
"My entire school life was a misery, an absolute misery," Beckham added. "Kids can be bloody horrible. I would never, ever allow my children to treat anybody like that. I know everybody thinks their kids are angels, but my kids are genuinely very kind. That's the most important thing, isn't it?"
Ultimately, the mom of four said her childhood experience made her stronger in the long run.
"It gave me a tough skin for what was to come next," she shared. "I never really talk about it because we had this British tabloid culture. It can be…challenging, shall we say."
"There were times I felt too self-conscious to sit on the beach with my children because of the attention and the paparazzi," she added.
