Patrick Schwarzenegger, the son of actor/governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kennedy family politico Maria Shriver, was spotted out in public with his mother this past weekend after the pair enjoyed a yoga work-out session together. As you can see from the following photos, the young Schwarzenegger seems to be as keen on physical fitness … just [...]
Victoria Beckham, fashion maven wife of soccer superstar David Beckham, is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Marie Claire magazine. In her coverstory interview, VB talks about a range of topics … from her work, to her children, to her husband … the usual … but this interview reads more down-homey rather than stiff and off-putting. Here is our first look at Vicki B. on the cover of Marie Claire and some excerpts from her coverstory interview:
Victoria Beckham throws open the paneled Giambattista Valli coat draped around her shoulders to reveal what is hidden underneath: her whippet-like body encased in a kind of dominatrix corset-cum-bustier rigged with bad-girl garters. “Take the pic-cha! Take the pic-cha!” she coaxes — akimbo now — tossing her cell phone to an assistant … I stare at the “pic-cha” that she is now more closely examining on her cell phone screen. “I’m going to send this to David and see what he thinks,” she whispers. “Thinks?” I ask. “His brain is not the body part that is going to respond to that image. You’re really e-mailing it to him? I mean, one would assume he’s seen you like this before.” Beckham laughs as she pushes the Send button. Yes, laughs. Though she doesn’t often smile in public, in private she’s generous with her humor. “Contrary to the rumors of my wearing sweats around the house, this is how I greet David when he comes home each day,” she says, her voice losing its burnished Hepburn purr and taking on a fake hauteur. “The only difference is that I have a leashed Doberman in each of my hands. And when dressed like this, I insist my children call me Mommy Dearest.” With that, she strides, in character, out onto the folly’s lawn and begins to pose. An almost completely different person greets me the next morning for breakfast in her temporary apartment at the Metropolitan hotel on London’s Park Lane. Beckham is barefoot on the floor in a pair of ripped jeans and a tank top through which a lime-green bra peeks out. Her hair is pinned haphazardly atop her head. Busy untangling her travel jewelry — mostly strands of gold necklaces and bracelets — she tosses each untangled strand into a small, nondescript cardboard box. “I look a bit different than yesterday,” she says, smiling at my reaction to how fresh she looks so early in the morning, how un-made-up. But she’s already been awake for several hours, having seen David and their boys off to the airport for a camping trip back home in America where they have lived — in Los Angeles — since 2007 … “There are rumors that we want to move back to the U.K., but we’re so happy in America I actually can’t see us ever leaving … People ask me how long it took to adapt. Twenty minutes. I’m a very driven, ambitious, positive person. But I’m a spiritual person as well. I believe in creative visualization. So for me to go to America — which I find such a positive place — well, I took to it like a duck to water. “In England, David and I are big fish in a small pond. But in L.A., we are tiny, tiny, tiny fish in a big pond. I mean, let’s be honest about it. When you’ve got Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes living down the street as your neighbors, who gives a shit about Victoria and David? Bottom line: I can relax in L.A. I think I’m the only person in that town who doesn’t want to act,” she says. “I was an OK singer. I was an OK dancer. But acting? Never could do it.” She has happily discovered where her real talents lie. She has more than just a knack for wearing clothes; she has a gift for designing them. Beckham is not a celebrity dilettante dillydallying in her latest hobby. Deadly serious, disciplined, she has decided to channel all of her creative energy into her fashion company, named Victoria Beckham. She is determined to make it a worldwide presence … Though they might now consider themselves tiny fish in the big pond of L.A., they still would be quite a catch for the church. “We aren’t Scientologists,” she says. “We really don’t know very much about it. I mean, Tom and Katie — they’ve mentioned it to us. But, no, they didn’t try to hook us and reel us in. It never really crops up. I’m very close to Katie, but with us, it’s all about girl talk … Katie is so talented and such an incredible mother, spinning plates like all us working mums do.”
Firstly, I’m very glad to hear that Les Beckhams are planning to stay in the US for the foreseeable future. Second, I’m glad to hear that Les Beckhams haven’t been “reeled in” by Scientology. I don’t even know if I can really take the idea of either Posh or Becks pontificating on the notions of Thetan Levels or Xenu. Thirdly, have I mentioned how happy I am that David Beckham has no plans to move out of the US? After the jump, check out a couple more photos from VB‘s Marie Claire photospread and read some excerpts from a different interview Vicki B. did exclusively for MarieClaire.com …
Kevin Sessums: Do you look back at “Posh Spice” and see her as another of your children at this point? Is she the daughter you haven’t had yet?
Victoria Beckham: I do look back and am grateful for what I achieved and for those girls in my life. But people are referring less and less to that time and it feels good. I think I’ve finally made the transition—I am now going into my sixth season as a designer—and all that feels like a hundred years ago. But the Spice Girls do seem to live on and on. Maybe that’s because we had a political message that still reverberates. Girl power. Strong women.
KS: You’ve known Simon Fuller a very long time. He discovered you and put you in the Spice Girls. Do you miss the adulation of your Spice Girl days?
VB: God no. People I respect complimenting me on my work in fashion is more exciting to me than anything I ever achieved as a Spice Girl. I am now competing in an arena where I can hold my head high. I feel quite confident in what I’m doing now , much more than the singing. I was never going to give Mariah Carey any competition.
KS: Is it true that when you auditioned for the Spice Girls that instead of doing a Madonna number or something by, say Cyndi Lauper back then, you performed “Mein Herr” from Cabaret?
VB: Entirely true. But does that surprise you? If nothing else, that alone proves I’m a gay man in a woman’s body.
KS: Is fame just another frock you can put on while looking at yourself in that mirror, or has it seeped into your DNA?
VB: Someone said to me once that fame is not like a jacket. You can’t put it on and then take it off. Sometimes it’s frustrating if I’m out with the kids and have to deal with the paparazzi. That comes with it though. But it was fun becoming famous. I mean, I even wanted to one of the kids in FAME when I was growing up. To sing and dance on the top of a taxi cab in NY—I was so there. Though the posters on my wall were of Mikhail Baryshnikov because my truest dream was to be a classical dancer. I’ve been in the public eye now for about 15 or 16 years and I’m very aware that fame is not a given. I have to maintain it. It’s not just something that will always be there. But I’ve always been a worker. I’ve never expected be given anything.
KS: You mentioned your children. Brooklyn is 11 now. Romeo is 8. Cruz is 4. How has being a mother changed you?
VB: Hmm …. well, you know when you get a TV you get a manual? Well, there isn’t one for motherhood. I’m constantly trying to figure it out and questioning whether I’m doing it right. But I’m so proud my kids. They are very well-mannered. We’ve always been very strict with the kids. That’s the way David and myself were brought up. But they’re free spirits as well. They laugh. They joke. They have fantastic personalities. I love hanging out with them. The other day we got up early to have breakfast and I was teaching them about American money. I had Post-Its on all the breakfast cereal. On the bread. On the milk. I got a box of fake money from Toys’R’Us. ‘All right,’ I told them at 6 a.m. ‘We’re going to learn about American money. I’m going to make you buy your breakfast.’ I hand them all a bit of the money. They were all just waking up and going, ‘Mum, we just want our Coco Puffs.’ And I’m going, ‘Coco Puffs! Cost one dollar twenty!’
KS: And the marriage is still strong?
VB: We are still so close, David and I. We were at a party the other day at my mum’s house and I was sitting on his lap. We’re very affectionate. And I looked at him and thought after being married for 11 years! We were the only couple who were even near each other at that party. We’re soul mates.
KS: I read on the British Vogue website that he’s going to be designing menswear for your label.
VB: That’s rubbish. I don’t know where that came from. But you’ve read all the rumors about me. Some people aren’t satisfied that I’m a gay man in a woman’s body and swear that I’m secretly a real boy. Let’s clear that one up. I’m a real woman. Okay? Before I became famous I used to think there’s no smoke without fire. But believe me, there can be a fire without smoke.
KS: You certainly are a real woman. I am surprised to say this but you’re one of the “real-est” women I’ve ever been around. I wasn’t expecting that. I was expecting a bit of a diva who kept her distance. That ain’t you.
VB: Some people are so blasé about having an extraordinary life. But David and I never take anything for granted. I think it’s very cool to still get excited about things. I get as excited now as I ever did when I get a chauffeur driven car pick me up and I stay in a fantastic hotel or get to fly in a private plane. I never want to get blasé.
I really love these interviews … VB is best when she’s not a robot. I love that we are seeing her more and more like a living, breathing person. Her adoration for her family is really wonderful … her zest for her work is really admirable. I’m thinking her life in America has softened her up a bit … which is a very good thing in my book. She can still be fierce, cold and robotic in photos … but as long as she keeps warming up in interviews, I’m gonna love her more and more.
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