SHE was the attractive, intelligent, dark-haired daughter of a Dutch diplomat.
He was the golden boy of world soccer who'd been voted second only to Brad Pitt as the top sexual fantasy of Spanish women. He was also married to someone who was struggling to accept and support the next stage of his soccer career.
When David Beckham left Manchester United and joined Real Madrid in 2003, the move thrust the high-octane Beckhams further into the global spotlight - but this time for all the wrong reasons.
Only two months after arriving in Spain, and with wife Victoria ambivalent about moving to Madrid because she was homesick for England and her parents, David Beckham shattered all illusions the public had of him as the doting, docile husband of pushy Posh Spice. David had an affair.
His lover was the diplomat's daughter and the woman assigned to help him integrate into his new Spanish lifestyle. The affair revealed a side of the soccer star the public had never seen before.
In The Beckhams, a fully revised and updated version of his 2000 book, Posh and Becks, British author Andrew Morton investigates the repercussions of David Beckham's affair with his assistant, Rebecca Loos, and discusses other allegations of David's infidelity - including a nine-month fling with Australian model Sarah Marbeck and rumours of romantic trysts in Madrid with blonde Spanish supermodel, Esther Canadas.
"When the Rebecca Loos affair happened, David was isolated in a strange country and his wife had left him to his own devices," says Morton, who became famous himself when his 1992 book on Princess Diana revealed the breakdown of her marriage to Prince Charles and her affair with army officer James Hewitt.
"David found himself struggling to understand his teammates, let alone the locals, and for a man who loved his weekly fix of McDonald's hamburgers, he found Spanish food not entirely to his liking.
"You can't feel too sorry for these people because they put themselves in that position - but that lifestyle at the time for David was quite a lonely gig.
"David has always been supportive of Victoria's career, but she has not always been so supportive of him and he was hurt by his wife's continued refusal to join him in Spain.
"Victoria felt homesick and her insecurities bubbled to the surface. Meanwhile, David was prepared to try to learn Spanish and to test himself against some of the greatest soccer players on the planet.
"Until Spain, Victoria had seemed to be the masterful one in the couple - but David is just as dominant in their relationship and I think that showed in Spain. He's the one who more recently decided to move his family to America, too.
'In the last few years he has gone from being a boy to being a man. Beneath the pretty boy persona is a young man with an iron will."
The affair that shattered the cosy image of the Beckhams' marriage - and showed that David wasn't as docile as the public thought - supposedly began during dinner at an upmarket Thai restaurant.
David joined Loos and colleagues from the sports management company where she worked. They drank champagne and began a game of truth and dare that quickly took on a sexually suggestive theme, says Morton.
"David claimed to be a member of the mile-high club, implying that he had had sex during a commercial flight," says Morton.
"He then challenged Rebecca to walk back to the table from the bathroom with toilet paper dangling from the back of her trousers. She accepted his unusual dare."
The group moved on to a nightclub where Loos said David invited her back to his five-star hotel suite. She thought he was joking, but when she realised he was serious, Loos allowed David's chauffeur to drive them back to his hotel. He was seen kissing Loos before they even made it to his room.
Victoria got wind of the night out and phoned Loos to warn her to stay away from David. She then called her husband and read him the riot act.
"Instead of cooling their friendship, however, David allegedly warned Rebecca Loos that his wife knew what was going on and so they had to be more careful in future," says Morton.
When the press discovered the affair and Loos began to talk to media, Victoria and David swung in to action to ensure their wholesome Brand Beckham remained untainted.
On the night Loos went on TV to reveal details of her affair, David and Victoria presented a united front at a party at London's Royal Albert Hall.
"Victoria held her head high in public and did very much what the royal family does during a difficult time. They never complain and never explain," says Morton.
"The couple went through a tough time and Victoria has admitted that. There were shouting matches and her mother intervened to calm things down.
"Around the time of the Rebecca Loos incident, David would anticipate a row with Victoria and would go out and turn off his mobile phone. Victoria would be left raging."
After Rebecca Loos there was a series of other allegations of affairs. Sarah Marbeck claimed to have had a nine-month affair with David starting in 2001, long before the diplomat's daughter came along. Marbeck said David called her Tinker Bell and she called him Peter Pan. Victoria was the homely and unexciting Wendy.
Loos also alleged that at a $250,000 birthday party for David's Real Madrid teammate, Ronaldo, in 2003 she saw David disappearing from the party with Esther Canadas.
Several days later, neighbours in the exclusive apartment block where Canadas lived said they saw David at the model's home.
He reportedly sent her text messages, says Morton, including one that read: "Have a safe flight baby and I really wish we was in your bed now."
Canadas, despite being offered money by various media outlets, refuses to talk about David.
Throughout all the rumours and sex allegations, Victoria and David stood together in public, even if they fought behind the closed doors of their Spanish hacienda or their sprawling English mansion.
Morton attributes their solidarity and the sticking power of the marriage to two things - their children and the earning power of Brand Beckham.
"David's been associated with various women and they have considered splitting up - but they've come through that," says Morton.
"There is always the potential for an affair on both sides, but I think David recommitted himself to Victoria after the Loos affair - and that was sealed by the birth of their third child, Cruz.
"You have to bear in mind they have three young boys and David idolises them. They are very close to their parents, too, so there's a family unit to think about. It's not just about David and Victoria - it's about the children and his and her parents."
To compensate for his roving eye, when Victoria celebrated her 31st birthday in April 2005, David went all out to give her a birthday to remember. Morton says he hired a private jet that he had specially customised with a V painted on it.
When Victoria boarded the plane she walked down an aisle strewn with rose petals -- her favourite flowers. They headed for Paris where David booked the Coco Chanel suite at the Ritz Hotel. During the weekend he organised private visits for his wife to a string of designer stores and jewellers.
Morton says neither Victoria nor David was prepared to let the earning potential of Brand Beckham be destroyed by kiss-and-tell stories. The global Brand Beckham is a multi-million dollar enterprise carefully controlled by the couple.
"Every bump in the road, such as Rebecca Loos, they handle skilfully to protect the brand. They give the impression of wholesome family life and carefully control the brand," says Morton.
"Victoria has a handbag range, a perfume range and a clothing range. David is opening various soccer academies. They do the deals. They accept the money and go through their paces. But the affair allegations and changes in status in the relationship have tested Victoria Beckham."
When she first met David, Victoria was the bigger star with the bigger profile and the bigger pay packet. She was part of the Spice Girl phenomenon, while David was just another soccer player -- albeit one with pin-up looks and devastating skills on the pitch.
"I started researching this book in 2000 and it was going to be about Posh Spice," says Morton. "David was just a soccer player, but during the course of my research he became far more significant and there was a change in the dynamics of their relationship.
"Victoria has said one of the things that attracted her to David was that he was a celebrity - but not as big a celebrity as she was.
"Gradually that changed and I think Victoria has struggled with that. She is very insecure. She was bullied at school and that was significant for her.
'When she became successful, she used to say she hoped the people who bullied her could see her now and see that she was more successful than they'd ever be.
"She acknowledges she wasn't the best singer and dancer in the Spice Girls and felt something of a fraud.
"David seems more comfortable in his own skin - he's a talent first who took to celebrity because of that talent. Victoria got lucky. She was desperate to be famous and that has propelled her, that need for fame and the spotlight."
But Morton says in the past couple of years Victoria has found her niche and that has brought her more peace.
"She's very good at fashion and she's enjoyed dressing up her whole life. She's got a talent for that and she can sit at fashion shows and have an intelligent conversation with Donatella Versace or Dolce and Gabbana about fashion."
The careful monitoring and manoeuvring of Brand Beckham has ensured the couple are never going to be short of a dollar - despite their spend, spend, spend mentality. Since they moved to the US when David signed a $250,000-a-week contract with LA Galaxy, the spending has continued.
"They are the King and Queen of Conspicuous Consumption and LA is their spiritual home," says Morton.
"Hollywood is a place where you can worship any god as long as it's Mammon . . . LA is the perfect place for them."
But Morton says the signs are that US Major League Soccer is making David earn his money. And there is resentment among his teammates at LA Galaxy who are disgruntled by the size of the Beckham pay packet.
His first season with the team has not been a resounding success either: soon after donning the LA Galaxy strip, David suffered an ankle injury and was forced to watch his team from the director's box.
"The manager of LA Galaxy said there has been some resentment in the team for a guy who is on the sidelines while they are running around doing the heavy work," says Morton.
"At the same time they are being paid less collectively than David is paid in a week."
The Beckhams by Andrew Morton, published by Michael O'Mara, is available now, priced $24.95.
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