But sometimes that madness is impossible to ignore. Three years ago, for instance, English papers exploded with stories of an affair David reportedly had with an assistant at his management firm. When the scandal is raised, Victoria's eyes shoot a look that could turn a man to stone. But without blinking, she responds forthrightly. "I'm not going to lie. It was a really tough time," she says. "It was hard for our entire families. But I realized a lot of people have a price." (A tabloid reportedly paid the other woman $600,000 for her story.) Looking slightly sheepish, David remains silent, but seems to grip Victoria's hand more tightly.
"David and I got through it together," Victoria continues. "No one said marriage was going to be easy. Yes, there have been bumps along the road. But the fact is we've come out of everything we've been through stronger and happier. It's even better now than when we were first married. After all these years, we can just come home and have a laugh together."
These days, she says, they don't read their press—"We just look at the pictures, to be honest"—but the English papers show no sign of losing interest. Reportedly several London tabs are relocating reporters to Los Angeles just to cover the transplants. Back home in England, after all, readers maintain ravenous appetites for the slightest Beckham tidbit. Even a new hairdo—of which David has had many—is front-page news.
"I never actually think, Okay, next week I'm going to get a mullet," David says of his ever changing coif. "I just wake up one morning and I'm bored with my hair and shave it off. It's just something I enjoy."
A devotion to his tresses is just one of David's lovable metrosexual qualities. He's also been photographed sporting sarongs and pink nail polish. Victoria, he says, has taken him to the next sartorial level. "I've always had a liking toward clothes, but when I met Victoria, she directed me in the right way," he explains. "When she tells me something doesn't look good, I believe her. We have a connection that way."
His teammates have had some fun with all of this. When he and Victoria recently got matching platinum dye jobs, for instance, they started calling him Marilyn. But, David insists, "it's always been in jest, a friendly banter." And he seems more than comfortable with the fact that his softer side—in combination with his hard body—has won him a sizable gay fan base. "I feel it's an honor," he says. "It's nice to be loved."
As of this fall, the Beckham style will be widely available in America. Victoria's denim line and collection of sunglasses—both under her dVb label—will be sold at Saks Fifth Avenue, Henri Bendel and other upscale stores. (Intimately Beckham, a fragrance in both men's and women's versions, will be in department stores.) For Victoria, an admitted shopaholic, it's a major triumph to be sold in such retail temples. "Being a Spice Girl opened a lot of doors, but it also shut many because of preconceptions people have about me," she says. "I've had to bang down those doors."
