'What Victoria Beckham’s story taught me about identity in Christ'

Victoria Beckham’s new Netflix documentary, Victoria Beckham, released on October 9, 2025, is a three-part series that traces her journey from the spotlight of pop superstardom to the ateliers of high fashion. I watched it on the weekend - the first episode looks back at Victoria’s early days with the Spice Girls, her relationship with David Beckham, and the pressure of living in the public eye. The second is Kill The WAG, the chapter where she shifts from being known as a “WAG” (wife and girlfriend of a famous athlete) to trying to be taken seriously in the fashion world. Finally it’s Show Day, which follows her preparations for a big runway show in Paris and shows how her brand has both triumphed and stumbled.

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I love Victoria’s designs, sadly out of my budget to purchase, but I think she is good at what she does, and it is clearly a passion. However, for the documentary as a whole, many reviewers highlight how tightly controlled yet emotionally loaded the series feels. The Guardian calls it “meticulously constructed … but extremely boring,” arguing that the documentary, like its subject, is too polished, offering little raw intimacy. I would disagree with it being boring, but it is definitely carefully edited. The Independent sees a through-line of “deep-rooted unease,” suggesting Victoria’s quest for approval underpins much of what we see, even amid success. Vogue notes that the series peels back layers of her self-marketing to reveal a woman striving to let go of the public’s favour, no longer bound by external validation. NME describes it as “a carefully controlled flex,” pointing out that Victoria still curates which battles she’ll reveal and which remain behind closed doors. Rotten Tomatoes viewers, meanwhile, praise the doc as “raw, emotional, and eye-opening,” seeing in it a story of rebuilding under pressure.

Watching Victoria Beckham’s evolution from Posh Spice, to WAG, to fashion designer, it’s clear that she has carried different public identities,

It was the ‘quest for approval’ that made me feel sad watching the series.  The documentary shows how, after the Spice Girls split, Victoria felt the loss of belonging and self-worth, trying to redefine who she was in the eyes of others. As a wife and a mother of four, she also bears the weight of maintaining the family role while pursuing her own ambition.

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We need to have a purpose in this life, but our purpose cannot become our identity. If we make what we do, our careers, our roles, even the praise we receive, the core of who we are, we set ourselves up to live constantly in the praise and the criticism of others. Jesus’ teachings often turned worldly measures upside down: it’s not the position, not the accomplishment, not the public approval that defines us, but our relationship with God, our character, and the humility, love, and faith we live out.

In the series, Victoria speaks of being treated as “just a pop star,” “just a WAG,” or someone whose fashion credentials were doubted—“who does she think she is?” Yet she persisted. Those doubts and labels were painful, but they also became part of her testimony. Her persistent hope, her work, her striving toward excellence, even under scrutiny, are elements of calling, not identity.

Victoria Beckham’s story is powerful because it illustrates both sides: how identity tied to what others see or say can wound, and how reclaiming identity in truth can bring healing.

Victoria Beckham’s story is powerful because it illustrates both sides: how identity tied to what others see or say can wound, and how reclaiming identity in truth can bring healing. Her life, as musician, wife, mother, designer, shows that roles shift, seasons change. But what undergirds all those seasons is God’s love, God’s purpose, and God’s unchanging identity for us.

For anyone watching, and maybe feeling a failure for not accomplishing anything near Victoria’s success, there is a promise: you are loved before you succeed, before you are known, before you are polished enough. And that love does not depend on being “Posh,” or “famous,” or “accepted by the high fashion world,” but simply on the fact that you are made by God.