Lewis Hamilton was moved by David Beckham’s “beautiful” new four-part Netflix documentary, ‘BECKHAM’. The pair had a candid conversation about the realities of what it takes to become a world-class sports star and spoke about how their humble beginnings shaped the men they have become today.
A clip from the docuseries of David putting his wife and pop star Victoria Beckham, aka Posh Spice, in her place after claiming she had grown up “working class” has made the rounds on social media. Explaining what initially drew her to David, Victoria said: “I think also we both come from families that work really hard. Both of our parents work very hard, we’re very working class.”
David then popped his head around the door from the other room and sternly told Victoria: “Be honest!”
“I am being honest,” she replied. But David was having none of it, “What car did your dad drive you to school in?” he countered.“It’s not a simple answer,” she said, before finally admitting: “OK, in the ’80s my dad had a Rolls Royce.” While Victoria clearly didn’t come from a working-class background, David certainly did.
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His father Ted was a heating engineer and appliance repairman who installed boilers for a living, while his mother Sandra worked as a hairstylist in nursing homes. “We didn’t have much then,” said Sandra during the documentary when talking about David’s early life.
The former Manchester United midfielder saw his parents work hard to keep a roof over their head throughout his childhood and it appeared to rub off on him. “I saw my mom and dad working hard every day until 11pm at night, 12am at night,” he said. “I knew the only way to be a professional footballer was to work hard.”
Seven-time F1 world champion Hamilton comes from a similar stock and was moved by Beckham’s story. “It’s a beautiful story. I’ve just started watching it, and it’s really, really cool seeing your dad and your mum talking,” Hamilton told the retired footballer after watching the documentary. “That’s like the real stuff. It was cool, though, for me. I’m starting to see some of these clips… when I was growing up and watching you, and you were first coming in. So it’s really cool.”
Hamilton, unlike many of his colleagues in F1, grew up with just enough money to get by. He is widely considered to be the sport’s first working-class world champion in a field dominated by privileged individuals. His father Anthony worked three jobs to cover all the expenses that tagged along with his son’s motorsport career but in the end, it all paid off.
