Posh hasn’t had the best week, either, after she was branded a “prima-donna millionairess”. Yikes
Her decision to furlough staff has not been popular
Victoria Beckham had a birthday week full of highs and lows. After celebrating her 46th with her family, the designer faced a tidal wave of criticism when it was revealed last week that she had taken a tax-payer funded government loan and furloughed 30 staff members from her Victoria Beckham fashion brand on 80 per cent of their salary. The news did not go down well with fans and public figures alike, and now an insider close to Victoria – who has said she will top up the remaining 20 per cent of her staff’s wages, and also forgo her own salary – tells us she’s “upset” and feels like she had been made “the biggest scapegoat” in all this.
“Victoria thinks it’s really unfair how the situation has been portrayed,” we’re told. “She feels like she’s getting so much hatred over this and everything is coming crashing down around her.” One particularly vocal critic was Piers Morgan, who called the fashion designer a “pampered prima-donna millionairess”. He went on to question why Vic – who is believed to be worth around £335million alongside husband David, and recently splashed out £17million on a Miami apartment – would choose to rely on British taxpayers instead of using her own money for her failing “vanity project”.
But our source tells us Vic is feeling frustrated, saying, “This was a business decision made on behalf of the company
by a lot of people – Vic doesn’t really get involved in the finances these day. Plus, she’s asking why she’s had so much more criticism than, say, Stella Mccartney [who has reportedly furloughed hundreds of staff], Gordon Ramsay [who has made hundreds of staff redundant] or any other celebrity with a business. That’s obviously not the public line she’s going with – but she does feel it’s unfair to ask her to pay staff fully out of her own pocket when the business is struggling and other people are able to take up this scheme without any criticism.”
VB’S fashion business has not made a profit since its launch in 2008, and in 2018, it was revealed the company had suffered annual losses of £12.3m. In defence of Victoria, Piers’ Good Morning Britain co-host Susanna Reid pointed out that Posh had said she will not be taking a salary and will donate 20 per cent of her sales to food banks. But that was little consolation to their critics. Posting on social media, one called the mum of four, “Greedy, shameless and without morals,” adding, “And that goes for all the other mega-rich people who are doing this, too.” Another struggled to sympathise with Victoria due to her constant posting on Instagram of her luxurious life as the family isolate in their Cotswolds mansion. They wrote, “All your fault, VB! When you insist on posting all those boastful and pretentious pictures of yourself (drinking expensive wines, buying a Miami apartment, £100,000 for Brooklyn’s birthday etc) then saying you are furloughing staff! You get what you deserve.”
And while we’re told Victoria is trying to avoid reading all the negative comments, she can’t help but take them to heart. “It’s really getting to her and has given her terrible anxiety,” our source adds. “She’d been having such a stress-free time recently, but now she feels everyone hates her. She’s barely sleeping and has been really emotional – the fashion label was already struggling, and the beauty brand had only just launched, so this is such a blow. The last thing she needs is people turning away from her because of this.” ■
‘The last thing she needs is people turning away from her’