David Beckham says Netflix documentary helped him address mental health wounds

David Beckham is revealing just how therapeutic it was to make his 2023 Netflix docuseries “Beckham,” saying the process allowed him to address “mental health wounds so deep” that he’s not sure he’ll “ever be fully rid of them.”

The 49-year-old soccer legend opened up on the challenges and emotional weight of revisiting his storied career in a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter, published Wednesday.

In the article, Beckham, who retired from professional soccer in 2013, says he’d been approached about making a documentary for years but wasn’t ready to look back until nearly a decade later.

He finally decided to embark on the project after meeting director Fisher Stevens, who he says laid out a plan to focus on his entire journey.

“I wanted to create something for my family to look back on that brought everything we experienced together in one place,” he writes.

The filming sessions with Stevens were emotionally intense, Beckham says, to the point where after each day he found himself “needing time alone to decompress.”

One of the most significant and painful moments Beckham revisited in the docuseries was the fallout from the 1998 World Cup, where he was vilified across England after receiving a red card in a match against Argentina.

“This was the first time I had truly confronted some pretty monumental moments in my life, and it was therapeutic,” he writes in the column.

While Beckham admits the documentary didn’t bring him complete closure, it allowed him to forgive himself and release some lingering guilt.

“You don’t need to feel bad anymore,” he remembers his mother telling him after the doc’s premiere.

As the former pro continues to reflect on his journey, Netflix has already announced that production is underway for a new documentary series focused on his wife Victoria Beckham, exploring her rise in the fashion and beauty industry.