Beckhams put family business f irst always
WHILE David and Victoria Beckham usually make it their business to deny speculation about an imminent divorce, as well as rumours of his philandering, it’s striking how little the power couple try to persuade their fans that their marriage is happy. Indeed in recent times they have made a pretty good fist of telling the world that being together is a bit of a drag.
During an interview on Australian TV David made a sly dig at their 19-year union, describing it as ‘always hard work’ and ‘complicated’. His ambivalence echoed his wife’s carefully chosen words in her recent Vogue interview when she pragmatically declared that ‘it’s all about the family unit. We are much stronger the six of us, than we would be if we were individuals. We respect that family bond and that is key’.
Beckham’s take on married life as a daily grind echoes Ben Affleck’s on the night he won his Oscar when, from the stage he addressed his wife Jennifer Garner, saying that marriage ‘is work, but it’s the best kind of work. And there’s no-one I’d rather work with’.
From that moment on as far as Hollywood was concerned the writing was on the wall for a marriage that had always been troubled by rumours of infidelity, drinking and reckless gambling on Ben’s part. But it’s far from certain whether the same can be said for the Beckhams. Granted, neither Victoria or David are exactly offering the expressions of undying devotion one might expect from a couple who were practically teenage sweethearts, share four children and have scaled the dizzy heights of global celebrity and fortune together. The world’s most profitably married couple are no Bogie and Bacall or Taylor and Burton.
They have grown apart – she into a fashionista with classic tastes, he into a party-loving social climber.
They spend so much time globetrotting while pursuing their separate business interests – he in Miami where he has a football club, or on lucrative advertising campaigns to the Far East; she to the fashion capitals of the world – it’s uncertain how much time they actually spend together. Even more suspicious is their palpable discomfort during joint appearances, particularly when their children are not around as buffers. While Victoria usually appears harried and clings onto her husband for support, he inevitably smiles in a detached fashion.
Yet, for all their differences the Beckhams are on the same page when it comes to publicly defining their marriage.
The couple who were once so in love that they could scarcely keep their hands off each other, acknowledge that the magic of their romance is over and by their own account, they have settled into an arrangement that however tiresome, is underpinned by family loyalty and mutual benefit. Given their talent for publicity and their dedication to their brand, it’s beyond doubt that they or their team of advisors have agreed on this unified strategy.
Their detractors may claim that their brand is the sole glue that keeps them together and that the Beckhams are now predominantly a business rather than an emotionally involved loving couple.
If that’s the case then the Beckhams may seem to have more in common with longstanding couples who stick together come what may, and often for a range of nebulous reasons than their A-list cronies who split as soon as the fires of passion die. For reasons of succession or titles, members of the aristocracy traditionally compromised on married love, but that convention expired with Princess Diana. Ordinary folk though often don’t have the money to go their separate ways.
The Beckhams’ re-invention as a not-so-happy couple may not spell the demise of their increasingly jaded brand, it might give it a new lease of life. Indeed it might be just another stage on their cunningly executed journey to even more wealth and influence, a stroke of PR genius.