When David Beckham retired from his professional football career in 2013, two things were clear: He wasn’t going to be able to leave the sport behind for good, and someday he’d have to tell the story of his incredible life.

He started with finding a new home in football: After playing professionally for over 20 years at some of the biggest clubs in the world, Beckham founded Inter Miami FC in 2018 and in 2023, he took home his first trophy as owner. Next would come the perhaps more challenging task — finding a way to share his memories, feelings, and life history with his fans.

Enter actor and documentary filmmaker Fisher Stevens (Before the Flood, The Lincoln Project) who joined Beckham on the journey of sharing his story with a four-part docuseries entitled BECKHAM. Each episode walks the audience through the highs and lows of the phenom’s career and personal life — from his debut at Manchester United to the infamous red card; from seeing a Spice Girls music video to his very purple wedding to Victoria, Posh Spice herself; from the footballer’s relationship with his father to becoming one himself. Stevens interviews the footballer’s family, friends, teammates, and managers who have all witnessed the magic of David Beckham firsthand, and spends time with the Beckhams at home, offering an intimate look at the life of one of football and pop culture’s greatest stars. Queue spoke with Beckham about the experience of chronicling his exceptional life for the new series.

Madeleine Saaf Welsh: What was it like for you to look back at your life and career in this way?
David Beckham: The process of looking back on my life and my career was amazing, actually. I knew that I had to tell my story at some point, and since I retired 10 years ago, I knew that I wanted to bring it out around this time. But obviously, in reality, who knew that I’d be able to make that happen? Thankfully we were, and it’s worked out perfectly. Going through the whole process of it, it was like an emotional rollercoaster. Looking at the good, the bad, the things that I’ve done over my career and my life, and some things that I’d never even seen before was just unbelievable. My dad has had hundreds and hundreds of Super 8 videos in the loft in the house for years and I got to see all of that. That was an amazing part of the process.

Do you often take time to reflect like this, or is this a bit of an unnatural process for you?
DB: I never reflect on things that have happened, really. Obviously, when I was playing I’d look back at the odd game that I’d just played to see if I could do things in a different way or if I’d played well. I like to watch the games that I played well in, but I never really reflect on what’s happened in my life and my career. So this whole process over the last 17, 18 months with Fisher, I’ve been able to see things that have happened in a way that I’d not seen them before. And it was quite exhausting looking back on my life and seeing what I’d done, how much my kids had grown, the teams that I’d played for, and the countries that I’d lived in, and all of those things.

I signed for Manchester United when I was 12; I moved up to Manchester when I was 15. And from that moment, we never reflected on things that we won. We’d always win a trophy, celebrate, and literally the next day we were onto the next season. So that’s really what I’ve now taken through my whole career and my whole life. Yes, I enjoyed the moment of winning what I won in my career, but I didn’t really sit in that; I just moved on, onto the next season and the next trophy. I’m like that in my business now; we do great things, and then people are like, “Can we celebrate?” And I’m like, “No, we move on. This is what we do.” So I don’t really reflect.

What was it like collaborating with Fisher Stevens?
DB: This is such a personal thing to me, and when I sat down with my team and said, “Okay, this is what we’re going to do and this is how we’re going to do it,” it was really important that we got the right director. I met some amazing directors who wanted to do it and tell the story in their way, but nothing ever felt right, so I kept on looking and asking people. I’ve got a couple of close friends that are in the movie business, in the documentary world, and one of my closest friends turned to me and said, “Fisher Stevens, that’s the guy.”

The moment I met Fisher, I knew that he could possibly tell my story in a way that had never been told before. He was coming from a different perspective of my life. It turned out that he is a football fan — he is a Liverpool fan, which isn’t great, obviously, but he is a football fan. So he could tell my story in a different way, and that’s what I wanted, and that’s what he’s done. He’s a character himself. In the last 18 months, Fisher has been filming Succession, as [his character] Hugo, and I think he’s been busier than me. We were talking about it the other day; we were like, “When are we going to hang out? When are we going to have a glass of wine together?” I was like, “Well, Fisher, firstly, you are busier. You are busier than I am. But now you’ve finished making Succession, now we can just hang out.”

But working with Fisher has been amazing because it is such a personal thing. He’s coming into parts of my life that I’ve never talked about before — and we’ve never let anyone into our home before. So if I was ever going to do it, this was the only time I was going to do it.

Were there any stories or perspectives that your family and friends shared that you hadn’t heard before?
DB: To hear the boss, Sir Alex Ferguson, talk about me in a way that I always wanted him to talk about me — I always loved the manager and I always wanted to play for him and always wanted to be successful for him. So when I heard that he agreed to do it, firstly, I got quite emotional. But then hearing him talk about me as a player, as a young kid, and obviously when Manchester United sold me, that was probably one of the most emotional parts of the documentary for me.

It was great to have everyone be part of it, to hear their perspectives, and also to be surprised by some of the stories because there were stories in there that I wasn’t aware of. There were stories that I’d told, but then they were told from someone else’s perspective, and it was totally different from my recollection. So yeah, it was amazing to see. And also to have my mum and dad talk about me in the way that they did was very emotional. To hear Victoria speak about me in such an amazing way, and our journey as a couple, and as two people that have been together for 26 years, and the family that we’ve created. Hearing everybody speak about me was emotional.

You’ve had really great partnerships in your life. How have these people and institutions shaped who you are today?
DB: Having great people around me is something that I’ve always believed in. I’ve been very lucky to have a loving family growing up, and then obviously once I met Victoria and joined Manchester United, I had another family that loved me and that I could love. So these are the people that keep you sane. They’re the people that keep you grounded. They’re the people that tell you no and when you’re doing something wrong. And that’s important to me, to have people around me that don’t just say, “Yes, yes, yes,” they say, “This is what you’re doing wrong. Don’t do this. Yes, you can do that.” And all the people around me that I have are incredible and they’re the people that have helped me have the career and the life that I’ve had.

Have you ever pictured what your life would look like if you came up in a different sport?
DB: No, because all I’ve ever thought about was football. From a very early age, that’s all I ever wanted. I wanted to become a professional footballer, I wanted to play for England, and I wanted to play for Manchester United. So I never really had time to think about anything else. My mom was a hairdresser, maybe I’d have gone into hairdressing. My dad was a gas fitter, maybe I’d have been a gas fitter. But football was all I ever wanted.