The Stunning Transformation Of Victoria Beckham

Victoria Beckham, back when she was Victoria Adams and before we knew her as Posh Spice, was born on April 17, 1974 in Harlow, England. She was raised in a tight-knit, affluent family, as the oldest of three siblings. From a young age she was passionate about dancing, singing and performing for others. She studied ballet when she was younger and continued to pursue her interest in dance at the Laine Arts Theatre College in Surrey at the age of 17, for three years.

I dusted off her first autobiography, Learning to Fly, from my shelf, to see what she had to say about growing up. In it, she wrote, "I was a girl with a dream. It all started when my mum took me and my sister to see Fame, the Alan Parker film about the Manhattan school for performing arts. It was 1982 and I was eight." From then on, all she dreamed about was becoming a star — the hard work of getting there, just beginning.

Throughout her childhood and teen years she struggled with bullying, confidence, and body image issues. In a letter to her 18-year-old self she wrote, "You are not the prettiest, or the thinnest, or the best at dancing at the Laine Theatre Arts college. You have never properly fitted in. You have bad acne. You think the principal has put you at the back of the end-of-year show because you are too plump to go at the front. (Which may or may not be true.)" She continued, recounting how childhood bullying helped her prepare for her rise to fame. "You haven't forgotten being bullied at school, have you? But the thick skin that you developed then is already standing you in good stead, and it will do so for the rest of your life."

Victoria Beckham was experiencing the height of her fame when she met professional footballer David Beckham. In fact, he was much lesser known than she was, at the time, but the catsuit-clad Spice had caught his attention before they even met. In a 2007 W Magazine feature, David confessed that he saw the video for "Say You'll Be There," while watching TV with his Manchester United teammate Gary Neville, and became smitten, saying, "I turned around to Gary and said, that one there, that's the girl I'm going to marry." When he finally saw her in the flesh in the Manchester United players lounge at a charity match, he was shy at first, admitting, "I sort of said hello and then just went back to Manchester. I was quite upset and gutted." The second time he saw her in the lounge, he didn't let her slip away.

Though it took fame to bring them together, the pair had grown up within 15 minutes of each other in London — both, in working-class households. In the W feature, Beckham described that what attracted her to David, was the fact that "he was always with his mom, dad and sister, while a lot of the footballers were at the bar getting drunk. I could sense right from the start that David was a gentleman, and very family-oriented, which is important because I'm the same." The two were married in an extremely lavish and extravagant ceremony in a castle near Dublin, on July 4, 1999. Fans remain perpetually dazzled by their fairytale romance, often evidenced by sweet sentiments of love for their family and each other.

Victoria Beckham and hubby David became known as Posh and Becks, amidst the media storm that followed them around, early on in their relationship. They couldn't go anywhere without being noticed, and were the easy targets of the paparazzi and scandalous tabloids. When they first met they had to meet in car parks and often had to sneak around in their free time just to avoid a tabloid scene. However, the media gave them an easier time of it, compared to some of the Manchester United football fans.

In her autobiography, Learning to Fly, Beckham describes occasions where she was afraid to be alone with Brooklyn while David was away at games, due to multiple kidnap threats and people mailing bullets to her home. "I was terrified," she said, after learning the police had heard from a reliable source that Brooklyn was going to be kidnapped when he was six months old. "It was the Manchester United fans who hated me, everyone knew where [we] had moved to, all they had to do was come and get me."

When her husband got the opportunity to play for Real Madrid in 2003, Victoria Beckham moved the family to Spain. "In Spain you will revel in watching him enjoy some of his best footballing days." she recalled, in a letter to her younger self, "But I need to warn you: a lot of your time there will be really hard. I'm not afraid to say now what a horribly difficult time it was. People will say awful things. You will be a laughing stock. Every time you turn on the television, or look at a newspaper, it will seem as though someone is having a go at you and your family. You will learn how mean other women can be. Others would crack under the pressure, but you won't. Use that time to close off, to focus, work hard and protect the children."

She utilized that time wisely by laying down the foundation for her own fashion brand. Through collaboration with others she launched denim, fragrances, and sunglasses under her dVb brand while living in Madrid, Spain.

The Beckhams are a beautiful, talented, and hard-working family. More importantly, above all the fame and success, they are loving, affectionate, talented, and extremely close. Victoria Beckham and her husband remain close with their own families, attributing that "tight-knittedness" to informing the style in which they've raised their own children, thus far. Their first son Brooklyn was born in 1999, and is now cultivating a passion for photography and modeling. Her second son Romeo, born in 2002, has modeled for Burberry and ran a mini marathon for UNAIDS. Her youngest son Cruz, born in 2005, has already taken after his mother, releasing a holiday single with the help of Scooter Braun. Their little girl Harper completed the family when she was born in 2011.

Beckham told Vogue that the children are never spoiled with anything other than love, and that they're always cuddling and communicating constantly. Despite their busy lives, the working parents always make their children a priority, rarely missing a parents' night or a sporting event. "I'm lucky that David is such a hands-on dad," Beckham said, in a Q&A at Saks Fifth Avenue (via InStyle), "He's so great, and we have so much respect for each other. When I'm traveling, he's at home. And when he's traveling, I'm at home. We work really well together and we're very present in the children's lives."

In 2014 Victoria Beckham was named a UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador, advocating for children and women who are born with, living with, or have been affected by HIV — to have access to life-saving medicine and care. "This is the beginning of an important journey for me," she said, at a special event for the cause. "As a woman, and a mother, I have a responsibility to support other women. I am proud and honored to be working with UNAIDS in this new role to help to raise resources and awareness, to support and empower women and children affected by HIV."

In recent years she visited Kenya and brought teenage son, Brooklyn along for the UNAIDS charity mission.