Victoria Beckham Elle January 2008

ON HER TALENT:
“It became very obvious from the start,� Beckham continues, “that I was never going to be the best singer or the best dancer or the best actress. I was never a 'natural.' � She thinks about this. “You know, I've never been that good at anything, to be completely honest.�

ON MEETING HER HUSBAND, DAVID:
Meeting David was “completely love at first sight,� Beckham says. “I remember it so clearly.� The Spice Girls were at their zenith when she flew with Fuller to a Manchester United match. David had yet to wow the world with his way of bending the ball. But he wowed her. She gave him her phone number on her airline ticket stub. “And he told me he went home and wrote the number on so many other things in case he lost it,� she says. “We found the ticket the other day!� They dated for months under the radar. “We drove around in his car and would sit in car parks and talk for hours and hours. We didn't need to go out for meals. We didn't need to go out for drinks. We just wanted to be together and get to know each other.�

ON HER LIFESTYLE:
“I work seven days a week. And I so love what I'm doing. I could go shopping all day, which is what a lot of people think that I do. That's their perception-that I'm a miserable bitch and go shopping all day and boss David about.�

ON HER PUBLIC IMAGE:
Twenty-four hours later, it's been decided. Two Batmans, a vampire, and a Victoria Beckham will be trick-or-treating in their Beverly Hills neighborhood. “The boys had great fun in the costume shop,� Beckham says. “Someone told me I'm going to feature big this year with the drag queens.� She loves this. “I'm so camp! I'm such a gay man trying to get out. I don't give a shit what anybody thinks.

ON HER DESIGN CAREER:
“Some of the best, coolest stores are taking on dVb,� Beckham says proudly. “A year ago, they would have laughed. Maxfield, Fred Segal, Collette, Harvey Nichols…I've spent years banging those bloody doors down. There are so many-and I hate the word-celebrities doing clothing lines and fragrances, and most of them have nothing to do with it.�

ON CRUEL CHILDREN IN HER PRE-POSH YOUTH:
Let's go back. There's someone you should meet on the playground at the Church of England school. See that chubby, pimply kid in the duffle coat with the hood cinched up against the cold and flying debris? That's Victoria Adams, loser, loner, and- unbeknownst to the classmates pelting her with stones-future Spice Girl. “They were literally picking things up out of the puddles and throwing them at me,� Beckham says, cringing. “And I just stood there, on my own. No one was with me. I didn't have any friends. People would push me around, say they were going to beat me up after school, chase me. It was miserable, my whole schooling, miserable. I tried to be friends with people, but I didn't fit in. So I kept myself to myself.�