As huge 1990s TV show TFI Friday returns to our screens tonight, we look back at the unbelievable moment when Victoria Beckham was weighed on live TV after Brooklyn’s birth
TFI Friday launched in February 1996 and ran until December 2000, with Chris Evans at the helm(Image: channel 4)
Victoria Beckham opened up about a deeply uncomfortable moment when she was weighed live on television, confessing it “hurt” – and that relentless scrutiny over her appearance and body weight took a significant toll on her. The shocking moment occurred on Chris Evans’ Channel 4 programme TFI Friday in 1999, just months after the former Spice Girls star had given birth to Brooklyn, her firstborn with England football legend David Beckham.
Evans, who returns to our screens with a new version of the show TFI Friday Unplugged tonight (Friday, 17 April), asked: “Is your weight back to normal?” When Victoria confirmed it was, he pressed further: “Can I check, do you mind?” before inviting her to step onto a set of scales and commenting: “Eight stone’s not bad at all, is it?”
The uncomfortable moment didn’t feature in Victoria’s Netflix series last year, but remains widely accessible online, drawing criticism from both her and David. He said in the documentary: “People felt it was okay to criticise a woman for her weight, for what she’s doing, for what she’s wearing. You know, there were a lot of things happening in TV then, that won’t happen now, that can’t happen now.”
Victoria Beckham was weighed on Chris Evans’ live TV show TFI Friday just months after giving birth to son Brooklyn Beckham(Image: CHANNEL 4)
Victoria herself added: “I was weighed on national television when Brooklyn was six months old. Get on those scales on television. Have you lost the weight? You know, and we laugh about it and we joke about it, when we’re on television. But I was really, really young, and that hurts.”
The pair went on to discuss how relentless scrutiny and commentary about her appearance and weight during the Nineties and early noughties left lasting scars. David revealed: “My Victoria, that I knew, sits at home in a tracksuit, smiling, laughing, having a glass of wine. That started to go purely because the criticism that she was getting.”
Victoria and Beckham discussed how relentless scrutiny and commentary about her appearance and weight during the Nineties and early noughties left lasting scars(Image: Getty Images)
Victoria confessed: “I really started to doubt myself and not like myself. Because I let it affect me. I didn’t know what I saw when I looked in the mirror. Was I fat was I thin, I don’t know. You lose all sense of reality. I was just very critical of myself. I didn’t like what I saw.”
She explained the impact of public perception: “I’ve been everything from Porky posh to skinny posh. I mean, you know, it’s been a lot, and that’s hard. I had no control over what was being written about me, pictures that were being taken. And I suppose I wanted to control that, you know.”
Shaun Ryder was one of TFI Friday’s guests(Image: CHANNEL 4)
Victoria revealed the extent of her struggle: “I could control it with the clothing. I could control my weight, and I was controlling it in an incredibly unhealthy way. When you have an eating disorder, you become very good at lying. And I was never honest about it with my parents.”
She added candidly: “I never talked about it publicly. It really affects you when you’re being told constantly you’re not good enough, and I suppose that’s been with me my whole life.”
TFI Friday was resurrected earlier this year by Virgin Radio on their YouTube channel and was acquired by Channel 4 to return as TFI Friday Unplugged. The original show launched in February 1996 and ran until December 2000 with a brief revival in 2015 before being axed. Kicking off the first episode 11 years ago, Evans explained that he never fully finished the original series because he “went mad”. He explained: “We never did the last show because I went mad… you may remember. I left with several shows to go.”
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