He has just turned 50 – and in true billionaire form, David Beckham celebrated in style! “It doesn’t bother me one bit,” says the legendary footballer when asked how he feels about his landmark birthday. “As long as I’m fit and healthy, and my family is too, that’s all I care about.
“I’m really happy. I’ve got the business and an amazing family. My kids are working hard, and they’ve all got passions and that is what’s important to me.”
The former England football captain – who over the years has become more famous in some circles for his wild hairdos, myriad tattoos and glamorous family life than his impressive sporting successes – kicked off a month of birthday celebrations at the end of March with a star-studded bash in Florida, where his Inter Miami football club is based.
More than 100 guests, from actors Eva Longoria and Justin Theroux, to singer Marc Anthony and football great Lionel Messi filled out the Beckhams’ favourite Miami restaurant, Cipriani, for the night.
For the big day on May 2, it was all about family. The Beckham clan jetted off to Bordeaux for a day of wine tasting before flying to Paris for dinner.
The festivities continued the next day, where guests, including Gordon Ramsay and Tom Cruise, were treated to a three-course meal at three-Michelin-starred restaurant Core in London, before partying into the early hours of the morning.
Noticeably absent from the weekend of celebrations was David’s eldest son Brooklyn, 26, and his wife Nicola, 30, further fanning rumours of a rift in the family. The budding chef was spotted in London days before the party, prompting hopes of a family reunion. But the couple returned to America before the weekend and failed to acknowledge David’s milestone birthday on social media.
Despite the blow, the famous footballer paid a touching tribute on his special day to his wife, Victoria, 51, and their four kids, Brooklyn, Romeo, 22, Cruz, 20, and Harper, 13, saying, “You are the reason I get out of bed each day. Thank you for making me smile and thank you for making me a better man.”
Since childhood, he’s also remained close to his gasfitter dad Ted, 77, and hairdresser mum Sandra, 76. They always encouraged their son to follow his ambitions – no matter how lofty or unattainable they seemed.
“At school, whenever the teachers asked, ‘What do you want to do when you’re older?’ I’d say, ‘I want to be a footballer,’” David once recalled. “They’d say, ‘No, what do you really want to do for a job?’ But that was the only thing I ever wanted to do.”
Ted and Sandra made sure their boy never let go of his dreams, and after he won a major football prize at the age of 11, he was on his way.
In 1993, aged 18, he signed a professional contract with Manchester United, a milestone that paved the way for his eventual anointing as England captain and the riches most of his adoring fans could only dream of.
It also led him to the love of his life. Even before he met Victoria, he knew who she was. He saw her performing with the Spice Girls on TV and remarked to a teammate, “That one there. That’s the girl I’m going to marry.”
A short time later, in 1997, he met Victoria – aka Posh Spice – in the Manchester United players’ lounge.
“I said ‘Hi’ from across the room and that was it,” he later remembered. “I thought I’d missed my chance and then a week after, she turned up at another football match.”
This time, he didn’t bottle out. “We talked for about an hour. She’d come by train, so she wrote her number down on her train ticket, which I still have.”
Victoria says David’s family-oriented nature impressed her.
“While the other football players stand at the bar drinking with their mates, you’ll see David standing aside with his family,” she wrote in a letter to her younger self published in a magazine in 2017. “You, too, are close to your family and you’ll think how similar he feels to you.”
The following year, two months after announcing their engagement, their first son, Brooklyn, was born, and in 1999, they married.
David’s new-found celebrity encouraged him to showcase some interesting hairstyle choices, including a short-lived mohawk – which team manager Sir Alex Ferguson, 83, forced him to shave off – and corn rows.
“Some of them have been really bad,” David has since opined of his hairdos over the years. “The topknot wasn’t too bad, but the corn braids were a bad decision.”
The Beckhams have never been out of the spotlight since the day they met – and not all of it positive.
During David’s time at Spanish team Real Madrid in the noughties, his former personal assistant Rebecca Loos, 47, alleged they’d had a steamy affair. It rocked the couple’s marriage to the core, but they managed to weather the storm.
They lived in California for several years, where David played for soccer team the Los Angeles Galaxy, before moving back to London, where Victoria established herself as a fashion designer.
David, meanwhile, has lived a trans-Atlantic lifestyle after establishing his Inter Miami soccer club.
Over the years, the redeemed family man has collected a vast number of tattoos. His first was Brooklyn’s Christian name, which is inked into his lower back. He then had a large guardian angel tattooed between his shoulder blades, followed by his wife’s name in Hindi on his inner left forearm – although, unfortunately, it was misspelt and reads “Vihctoria”.
He now has more than 80 tattoos and says, “I don’t regret any of them. They all have a meaning. I think that’s what’s important about tattoos – if they have a meaning, you’ll never regret them.”
At 50, it seems David’s passion is the same as when he first met Victoria at the tender age of 22 – family.
“We’ve always wanted a big family, which was weird because when we first got together, we never even discussed how many children we wanted,” he reflects. “But it has worked out perfectly as we love kids.”
The couple, of course, is also enormously wealthy, with an estimated fortune of more than $1 billion.
Adding to the coffers was David’s Boss underwear campaign launched in January, for which he posed in a series of saucy pictures.
It’s the simple things, though, that David enjoys the most. This month, he extolled the joys of barbecuing when the family comes together.
“We’ll grill from 11 in the morning to 12 at night,” he shares. “My favourite cut of meat is a skirt steak and it’s not the most expensive cut of meat that you can buy. Every time I go into the butcher’s, they’re like, ‘Why don’t you want some wagyu?’ But I love skirt.”
Next year, says a Beckham insider, is shaping up to be significant for David, who’s gunning for club Inter Miami to be a big part of the 2026 World Cup.
“David and Victoria are in a very good place,” says the source. “They have huge ambitions and huge aspirations. At 50, they’ve not even scratched the surface.”
It’s certainly a long way from David’s humble childhood. Not so long ago, he mused that if his footballing dreams hadn’t panned out, he would have followed in his dad’s footsteps and become a gasfitter.
He tells, “If you had told me as a young boy I’d have played for and won trophies with my boyhood club Manchester United, proudly captained and played for my country over 100 times and lined up for some of the biggest clubs in the world, I’d have told you it was a fantasy.”
David Beckham’s life timeline
1975
David, the second of Ted Beckham and Sandra West’s three children, is born on May 2 in London.
1986
Talented and determined, David wins the Bobby Charlton Soccer Skills finals aged 11.
1993
David signs his first professional contract with Manchester United.
1997
David and Victoria meet at a soccer match.
1999
Posh and Becks welcome son Brooklyn in March and marry four months later in an Irish castle with The Spice Girls, Sir Elton John and George Michael as guests.
2000
David begins his six-year stint as England captain.
2002
Son Romeo is born in September.
2003
The family moves to Spain after David signs with Real Madrid for $57 million. That same year, Queen Elizabeth presents him with an OBE.
2004
Personal assistant Rebecca Loos claims she had an affair with David.
2005
Son Cruz is born in February.
2007
The Beckham clan moves to California after David signs a five-year contract with LA Galaxy, worth an estimated $458 million.
2011
Harper is born in July at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in LA.
2013
David retires from playing football and the family moves back to London.
2018
David founds his own soccer club Inter Miami.
2024
David and Victoria wear their purple wedding outfits again to mark their 25th wedding anniversary.
2025
Victoria throws her husband a black-tie bash in Miami to kick off his 50th birthday celebrations.
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