Victoria Beckham’s new Netflix documentary is here and it contains one jaw dropping moment.

Victoria Beckham has always been somewhat of an enigma. For decades, she was painted as the serious, unsmiling member of the Spice Girls turned WAG to one of the most famous soccer players in the world turned fashion designer. 

Now, Netflix's new three-part documentary series simply titled Victoria Beckham finally shows us the woman behind the myth, and — honestly — she's far more relatable, funny, and brilliantly self-aware than the tabloids of the past would have you believe. 

Following the massive success of 2023's Beckham documentary about her husband David, this time around the doco focuses solely on Victoria's journey from pop star to respected fashion entrepreneur, which culminates in her Paris Fashion Week show.

And what a chaotic journey it was.

Watch: Trailer for Victoria Beckham. Article continues after video.

What makes this documentary so utterly binge-worthy is how it humanises a woman who the public and media absolutely lived to dehumanise for years. We get glimpses of Victoria's humour and silliness that we caught tantalising hints of in the Beckham documentary, but this feels like Victoria finally letting her guard down and serving us her full personality — and let me be the first to say… I love this woman.

I mean, it's genuinely refreshing to see her taking the absolute piss out of herself — whether it's about her legendary refusal to crack a smile in photos or her former life as a performer. Icon behaviour, honestly.

But perhaps the most compelling aspect of the documentary is the level of self-awareness we get from Victoria when it comes to her past. She knows her strengths. She knows her weaknesses. She knows she has pop star tendencies. She knows what the world says about her. She is aware.

"But I was never the best. I wasn't the best dancer, the best singer," she admitted. 

Listen to The Spill's Brutally Honest review of the Spice Girls.

Image: Netflix

In one particular moment, Victoria opens up about the devastating transition of going from being one of the world's most famous pop stars to just someone's wife after the Spice Girls split up. While she describes loving being a wife and a mother, she also recalls having no creative outlet at the time and struggling with having her identity be solely associated with being a WAG. 

It wasn't enough — and she's brutally honest about the loneliness of that experience. She even admits to her attention-seeking behaviour at the time, putting on increasingly outrageous outfits to be caught by the paparazzi. It was her way of staying relevant at a time when she was lacking personal purpose. 

"I suppose there was an element of attention-seeking, if I'm being completely honest. It was at a time when I didn't feel creatively fulfilled so it's how I stayed in the conversation. From Spice Girls to WAGs," Victoria explained.

"I didn't realise it at the time, but I was trying to find myself." 

But it's when she opens up about the persistent criticism against her that things get really raw. The ever-present question associated with Posh Spice: Why don't you smile?

Let's be honest — the whole "smile more" thing was ridiculous and sexist to begin with (she doesn't owe the paparazzi or anyone else a bloody smile), but she goes deep into what she was actually going through at the time. 

Following years of relentless public scrutiny – with people blaming her for everything from David's football performance to her own weight – Victoria claims that she was genuinely traumatised by the idea of being photographed and written about. For the first time in the documentary, she opens up about her eating disorder during this period — an attempt to control what she could about a narrative that was completely out of her control. It was a genuinely dark time, and that stoic exterior we all mocked was actually her way of coping and protecting herself from the absolute circus surrounding her life.

And it's this kind of vulnerability that completely reframes everything we thought we knew about Posh Spice.

Image: Netflix

While the documentary explores how difficult it was for Victoria to be taken seriously by the fashion industry as a former pop star, it also doesn't gloss over the business struggles either. We see the brand critically acclaimed but financially floundering — including that jaw-dropping moment where Victoria's business partner reveals that she spent $70,000 on plants for the business. And $15,000 for someone to water those plants.

I mean, that is some pop star behaviour. 

And Victoria doesn't disagree. She, too, acknowledges that her frivolous spending was not sustainable for the business and was likely as a result of her celebrity status. 

"I didn't realise at the time, but the waste was mindblowing. Bizarre things, like flying chairs from one side of the world to another. I hear it now, and I'm horrified," Victoria said. 

"But I allowed that to happen. And I think part of the problem was that people were really afraid to tell me no. I'll hold my hands up and be accountable for the things that I have done that I should have and could have done differently." 

And that right there is the reason the documentary works: self-awareness. While Victoria and David are both producers on this series, it somehow doesn't feel like a sanitised PR exercise. As a viewer, it comes across as genuine and sincere. But I guess that was the goal all along. 

The documentary successfully gives an empathetic look into the complicated life of one of the world's most famous and, at times, hated women. But regardless of whether you're a fan of Victoria Beckham or a sceptic, there's no denying her influence. 

In my opinion, through every reinvention – from Spice Girl to the most famous WAG to a high-fashion designer — Victoria Beckham has always been a cultural icon who deserves her flowers. 

Now, maybe the world is finally catching up. And it's about time. 

Victoria Beckham is now streaming on Netflix.

Feature Image: Netflix.