David Beckham Is Totally Cool With Brooklyn Stealing the Spotlight

Hundreds of fans waited in line for hours outside a downtown Los Angeles H&M on Monday afternoon to be among the first to preview David Beckham’s latest Modern Essentials line — and for the chance to take a photo with the former soccer-playing stunner. Before the 41-year-old made his way out from backstage, he smiled and raved about how much he adores any opportunity to meet and mingle with his fans. But lately, the famous father of four has been finding that his Mini-Me has been siphoning off some of the limelight.

Beckham’s oldest son, Brooklyn, is becoming a household name, and many teenage girls are starting to take notice. Just the other day, the Beckham family was dining out when a young female approached their table and asked for a photo. “I was like, ‘Yeah, no problem. I’ll have a picture,” Beckham told Yahoo Style during his recent campaign launch. “She was like, ‘Can I have a picture with your son?’ And I was like, ‘OK, it’s started!’” he joked, of the 17-year-old’s budding status as a heartthrob.

We caught up with Beckham to discuss how turning 40 last year has influenced his style, what beauty product he’s currently sneaking out of his wife’s makeup kit, about the time he and Victoria had their Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears matching outfit blunder, and more.

Yahoo Style: What is the inspiration behind your new H&M Modern Essentials collection?

David Beckham: It’s something that we’ve been working on for a few years now, where we’ve brought a few seasons out. And it’s been very successful. Working with a company like H&M is great, because they are very professional in how they do things. They do things in the right way, and they are a pleasure to work with. These are my selects from their Modern Essentials. What we actually do is: They bring 40 or 50 pieces to me, and then we go through them to see what we feel are the right things to actually bring out. And it works well, because I have my style that I like, and they obviously know what works for them, so that’s why it’s been such a great partnership. We both have a voice. With the customer as well, I think what they really believe is they are getting a sense of my style, which is important. It’s not just something where I turn up on the campaign and I wear the clothes and then I never wear them again. I have my input, and this is what I wear. It’s believable because it is exactly what I wear.

How has your style evolved over the years? And was there pressure to start dressing a bit more sophisticated when you hit the big 4-0?

Oh, yeah (laughs)! For sure! Once you get to probably 35, it starts. You start thinking, “Well I can’t — even though I still do — I can’t wear baseball caps back to front,” even though I do when I work out. People start looking at the way you dress. But to be honest, I’ve never worried about what people think about what I’m wearing. I always just wear things that I’m comfortable in. Over the years, when I look back at some of the things I’ve worn, I think, “Oh my goodness!” And I’m sure everyone does the same. Everyone looks at pictures from 10 years ago and thinks, “What was I thinking?”

What was the one outfit in particular that you are particularly ashamed of?

Well there are a couple of things. But there is one I immediately think of when people turn around to me and say, “Of all the years that you’ve been photographed, what was the one outfit?” There was one outfit that I wore with my wife actually to a show. And it was all leathers. So leather shoes, leather pants, leather jacket — and she wore the same. Looking back, we’ve actually both said to each other, “What were we thinking?”

It was your Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake denim-outfit moment!

It was! It was our moment (laughs). But it was good at the time, I think.

Who is more stylish at this point, you or your wife?

Oh, she is. For sure! I think we’ve both got our own style, but I’m very casual. I like to wear nice suits, but most of the time what I’m wearing now: jeans and a T-shirt and a pair of boots. And that’s literally what I wear most days.

You’ve talked in the past about being pretty OCD and having your fridge impeccably organized. What does your closet look like?

It is perfect. It puts my wife’s closet to shame, because I’m very organized, very OCD. I have like four black T-shirts, four white T-shirts, four red T-shirts. … So it’s very organized. It’s just very tidy. There is nothing out of line. There is nothing that’s in a place that it shouldn’t be. I think it’s annoying for my wife to see, because hers is not like that. But every time I say to her, “You’re so messy!” she’s like, “Well, that’s just creative.” So she has an answer for everything. But mine is definitely very tidy!

There was a cute interview with Victoria the other day where she said that you aren’t afraid to steal her beauty products.

I’m not!

What kind of products are we talking?

She’s actually just brought a makeup range out, and I don’t know if she’s aware yet. … She’s in London at the moment, and I stole her moisturizer. She has this moisturizer that actually makes you look a little bit browner than you are, a little bit tanned, and a little bit more healthy. She’s not mentioned it yet, so maybe she’s not noticed, but I do like to use her products.

Your kids are really starting to come into their own. Is it funny to you that Brooklyn has become such a heartthrob?

It is funny. We were at a restaurant the other day. A lot of the time, people come up and ask for pictures, and I always like to do it and never say no. But some young girl came up, and I was like, “Yeah, no problem. I’ll have a picture.” She was like, “Can I have a picture with your son?” And I was like, “OK, it started!” He’s a good boy. They are all good kids. They don’t get carried away by the attention, but it is funny. He’s a 17-year-old, a good-looking boy. But he’s got a passion in photography. And that’s what I want for my children. I want them to really know what they want. And it’s not always going to be like that, but at the moment he’s so focused on his photography and what he likes about it, and that’s a good thing.

Are you protective papa bear now that they are starting to date?

I think once my daughter starts to date — if that ever happens… At the moment, I don’t think it’s ever going to happen (laughs). But once she starts to date, then it’s going to be a whole different level. But for my wife, I think, seeing our eldest son go out with someone, that’s difficult for a mom more than the father. But I’m still very protective over him; I always will be with all the boys, and obviously the little girl.

So you’ll be the dad polishing the gun on the front porch while she’s out on her dates?

I don’t know about that (laughs), but I definitely will be very protective over her. But so will her brothers, and that’s the good thing about having older brothers. Brooklyn is 17, Cruz is 11, and Romeo is 14, so they are all going to be a great age to look after their little sister.

You’ve been doing pushup challenges left and right. This past one, you were shirtless on top of a piano…

Oh, please! Do you know the story behind that one? We thought it was a good idea at the time.

It was cute.

I’m not sure it was cute! Someone said to me, “When are you going to do the next pushup?” and I was like, “Well, I’m not going to do another one like that!” The amazing thing is we’ve had like 9.5 million views, and that makes me smile and laugh. I am continuing to do it, but what I’ve said is: I’m not going to post every single day where I’m doing the pushups, because I just think people are going to get very bored of me doing press-ups on every single day on Instagram. So I’m going to post a compilation of it right at the end. But that one the other night, I don’t know how I came up with the idea of me doing press-ups in underwear on a piano!

Are you second-thinking it a little?

Oh, I was, the morning after, for sure! We were in China. It was 3 a.m. in the morning, because we had just finished the shoot that I had over there. We had just got into the room. I had a glass of wine, and I thought it was a good idea. I’m not so sure it was, but it got a lot of views, which obviously raised a lot of attention for a good cause.

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