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David Beckham opened up about why he invests in wife Victoria Beckham’s business at Forbes’ Iconoclast Summit in New York City<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
Victoria has previously spoken about the strain that David’s involvement in her namesake fashion brand caused<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
David was recently named the United Kingdom’s first billionaire athlete<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
David Beckham<\/a> is the ultimate supportive husband.<\/p>\n At Forbes’ fifth annual Iconoclast Summit in New York City on Wednesday, June 3, the former soccer star, 51, reflected on his journey from athlete to businessman, including the role that wife Victoria Beckham<\/a> has played.<\/p>\n “One of the best pieces of advice that I’ve probably been given in business is that I like to invest in myself,” he shared. “I like to invest in my wife because I know that she’s going to get up every single morning and go to work.”<\/p>\n David invested his own money<\/a> into Victoria’s namesake clothing brand, which the former Spice Girl has said caused a strain on both of them<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I almost lost everything and that was a dark, dark time. I used to cry before I went to work every day because I felt like a firefighter. We were 10s of millions in the red,” she reveals in her 2025 Netflix docuseries Victoria Beckham<\/em>. “Yes, I’m going home to my husband, but I’m going home to my business partner as well. And so I would talk to him about it. I had to. He was invested. And I hated it. I absolutely hated it.”<\/p>\n David Beckham in June 2026 In his own interview in the docuseries, David says that when the two met, his future wife had more money than he did, which also made this turn of events a struggle for her to deal with.<\/p>\n “We both sat there, and we looked at what I’d invested. And I think part of that conversation broke my heart because Victoria is a proud woman,” he shares. “She actually bought our first house in Hertfordshire, known as Beckingham Palace. So for her to have to come to me and say, ‘Can I have some \u2014 we need some more money. The business needs more money, that was hard for both of us because I didn’t have the money to keep doing this, and eventually I was like, ‘This cannot continue’.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Victoria eventually turned to outside investors to hopefully save the brand, and in doing so, she had to make some serious cuts in her spending. She landed with businessman David Belhassen, who initially turned down her ask for help \u2014 but then Belhassen’s wife changed his mind.<\/p>\n “Victoria was not looking for a partner that would just put money. She needed a partner that knew the business, understood her dream and was capable of making it happen\u2026 Frankly, I had never seen something as hard as that to fix,” he reveals in the documentary.<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for\u00a0<\/strong>PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/strong><\/p>\n In May, David became the United Kingdom’s first billionaire athlete<\/a>, according to the 2026 Sunday Times<\/em><\/a> Rich List.<\/p>\n The former Manchester United star’s combined fortune with his wife surged to an estimated \u00a31.185 billion ($1,579,368), per the outlet. Beckham’s wealth has more than doubled over the past year, driven largely by the soaring value of his ownership stake in Inter Miami CF and the club’s continued commercial growth following Lionel Messi’s arrival.<\/p>\n
Credit: Jamel Toppin<\/i><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n