What’s next for Becks? With David Beckham celebrating his birthday, what is next for Brand Beckham?

May seems to be the month for birthdays, as not only is Dwayne Johnson celebrating his 51st today, but one of England's football legends is also celebrating his cake day today - as David Beckham turns 48 years old. His wife, fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham has already shared a post on social media showing the pair continuing their new life in the dance studio, with the pair once again flashing dance moves that continues to prompt calls for an appearance on Dancing With The Stars to this day. 

Victoria also shared an Instagram post showing David with his children with the message “Happy Birthday @DavidBeckham we love you sooooo much xxxxx The most amazing husband and incredible daddy. You are our everything,” which as of writing has had 140,259 likes. Not bad considering that the 2022 David Beckham had was equal parts great for Brand Beckham and perhaps not so great for David Beckham; gay icon.

The not-so-great moment in 2022 of course stems from his involvement as an ambassador for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar last year. Being the front-facing personality during the World Cup, talking about his enjoyment of the country and what interesting things tourists could do was seen as tone-deaf in light of the LGBTQIA+ controversies that Qatar had been known for - including at one point travel advice akin to the notion “don’t act too gay during the World Cup.”

That prompted a large number of voices from the gay community to express their disappointment that a gay icon such as David Beckham would support a country with a regime that is insistent homosexuality is wrong - with Joe Lycett of course stating he would shred £10,000 of his own money if the former footballer didn’t leave his role. Beckham didn’t, the money thankfully wasn’t shredded and instead went to charity, but his team in December did release a statement to Lycett explaining that “we understand that there are different and strongly held views about engagement in the Middle East but see it as positive that debate about the key issues has been stimulated directly by the first World Cup being held in the region.”

"We hope that these conversations will lead to greater understanding and empathy towards all people and that progress will be achieved."

Though somehow, despite disappointing members of the gay community, David Beckham managed to rally support for himself and his brand by doing something incredibly British - joining an orderly queue. 

This was not just any queue however but the long queue throughout London to see Queen Elizabeth II held in state, before her state funeral in September 2022. With a huge cause celebre surrounding This Morning hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby caught “jumping the queue” to pay their respects to the deceased monarch, news cameras following the large line caught a glimpse of Beckham casually waiting in line to pay his respects to the Queen.

While speaking to ITV News in the queue, Beckham revealed that he had joined the long line at 2am. “I thought by coming at 2am it was going to be a little quieter. I was wrong,” he said. “I’m here on their [his parents] behalf and on the behalf of my family and obviously to celebrate with everybody else here,” he added. “It’s a sad day but it’s a day for us to remember the incredible legacy she’s left.”

Such a humble, earnest moment while other celebrities were still “queue-hopping” over those less famous was seen as David Beckham being more in touch with people that anticipated, and his grounded approach to paying his respects to the queen won him incredible favour in the eyes of the general British public, and in doing so unintentionally (we hope) helped put Brand Beckham back in the good graces of numerous people. 

But what has David Beckham got planned after his birthday celebrations this month? Actually, he’ll be back on our screens again.

David Beckham set to appear in Netflix documentary

Long standing fans of the Beckham’s will no doubt be aware that David has obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and it has been a long-standing issue for the A-Lister, which he first mentioned in his 2014 biography, David Beckham: My Side. He is now set to talk more about his battles with OCD in the forthcoming Netflix multi-part documentary about the Beckham's. 

During a London media event, Netflix previewed a clip that showcased a rarely seen aspect of the couple's relationship. In the footage, the married couple is shown at home, and former England captain David Beckham complains about having to clean up around the house after his family goes to bed. He expresses his obsession with cleaning their candles and trimming the wicks. 

This behaviour is likely related to his past diagnosis of OCD, a condition he has discussed previously. Beckham also meticulously cleans the kitchen each night before bed, stating that smoke inside the candle glass is his pet peeve. 

The documentary, set for a release later this year, continues Netflix’s trend of following the lives of celebrities in a warts-and-all fashion, after the success of both Harry and Meghan and Pamela Anderson’s two-part documentary series. 

Peopleworld already discussed the forthcoming Wham! documentary last week, but Robbie Williams will also have a documentary coming out through the streaming giant, which follows the moment, in his own words, Williams was set to have a “nervous, mental breakdown.”