Victoria Beckham Opens Up About the ‘Dark Time’ When Her Business Nearly Collapsed

Victoria Beckham’s namesake fashion brand may have several famous fans, but operations were dangerously close to ceasing after she and husband David Beckham analyzed the books and realized it was “10s of millions in the red.”

The Spice Girl, 51, opened up about the brand’s near closure in her three-part Netflix docuseries, Victoria Beckham, and how having David as her business partner increased the pressure that she faced to keep it from failing.

“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 revealed.

The designer continued, “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.”

David explained that his conversations with Victoria about the business failing “broke” his heart because she’s a “proud woman.” He also noted that Victoria was making more money than him when they met, which made it even more difficult to tell her that he could no longer invest.

“She was a lot richer than me. She actually bought our first house in Hertfordshire known as Beckingham Palace,” he said. “So for her to have to come to me and say, ‘Can I have some — 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’.”

Victoria refused to give up, and looked to outside investors to save the business before landing on David Belhassen as a business partner.

“Victoria was not looking for a partner that would just put money,” the investor recalled. “She needed a partner that knew the business, understood her dream and was capable of making it happen… Frankly, I had never seen something as hard as that to fix.”

After initially assessing the numbers, Belhassen turned down the opportunity to invest, which left Victoria “absolutely heartbroken.”

The designer received a second chance after Belhassen had a date with his wife.

“When I go out with my wife on the Saturday night, and I see her stunning. And I said, ‘What are you wearing?’ ‘Victoria Beckham.’ I said, ‘Are you buying a lot of Victoria Beckham?’ And she said, ‘Tons. I love it. It’s amazing,’” he recalled. “And the flame lit there. It became like a fire. And on Monday, I gathered the team and say, ‘We have to do it. If we fail, we fail.’ So we signed. I remember she was very emotional and she told me, ‘I won’t let you down.’”

To save the brand, Belhassen told Victoria the “painful” truth — that she had to be willing to “change everything” and “restructure the business” so it could survive. Victoria welcomed the honesty and “took it on the chin.”

“Part of the problem was people were really afraid to tell me no,” she explained. “People thought that I wasn’t used to hearing, ‘no.’ I’ll hold my hands up and be accountable for things that I have done that I should have done and could have done differently, and I was in debt. There was a lot I had to change. I realized I’d lost my way.”

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For the London premiere of her docuseries, Victoria walked the red carpet alongside David and their children, Romeo, Cruz and Harper. Eldest son Brooklyn was not in attendance.

For the occasion, Victoria wore an all-white look with a long pencil skirt, white top and white blazer. The rest of the family stepped out in style, too, looking fashionable in coordinating black and white looks.

Victoria Beckham is streaming on Netflix starting Oct. 9.