David Beckham initially offered a ‘political response’ when speaking in his new Netflix docuseries about the claims that he had an affair with his personal assistant Rebecca Loos, a body language expert has said.

His former Spice Girl turned fashion designer wife Victoria, 49, meanwhile, showed she’d still rather not talk about the situation, according to Judi James.

After the British footballing superstar, 48, moved to Spain to play for Real Madrid in 2003, David found himself hit by allegations that he’d had an affair with his PA, which put his marriage under intense scrutiny.

The painful aftermath is just one of the moments explored in his four-part docuseries BECKHAM – with body language expert Judi telling FEMAIL how David often appeared ‘vulnerable’ in his tell-all documentary, and even angry at one point.

She said David offered ‘no eye contact with the interviewer and took some deep, self-controlling breaths as he started to speak slowly and carefully’ about the affair allegations.

+4
View gallery

David Beckham (pictured) initially offered a ‘political response’ when speaking in his new Netflix docuseries about the claims that he had an affair with his personal assistant Rebecca Loos , a body language expert has said

Judi added that the former footballer, however, did eventually become emotional while discussing how he and his wife are ‘fighters and at that time we needed to fight for each other, we needed to fight for our family.’

She claimed he also showed ‘anger in his eye expression’ when saying the ‘horrible stories’ were ‘difficult to deal with’.

Meanwhile, Victoria ‘illustrates the strength David has spoken about with her comments of that time,’ explained Judi.

The expert said: ‘She looks and sounds poised and emphatic, although there are three tells that suggest she’d still rather keep the subject to herself.

‘She brings one hand up and kept flat in an emphatic chopping gesture but as she speaks she keeps it there as a barrier. Then the second hand joins it and lastly she raises her leg to form a complete barrier ritual.’

Judi also noted David’s body language when first asked about the alleged affair in the docuseries.

She said: ‘The alleged affair brings out a more political response from David. There is no eye contact with the interviewer and some deep, self-controlling breaths as he begins to speak slowly and carefully.

‘When he says the “horrible stories” were “difficult to deal with” his eye expression suggests anger.

‘Asked “How did you survive that?” he is still evasive, shaking his head and saying “I don’t know”. His lips perform a pursed pout and he scratches the back of his head in a gesture associated with confusion.

‘The tears appear as he says “we’re fighters” but he also laughs and shrugs, suggesting a range of mixed emotions.’

The four-episode documentary follows Posh and Becks in their personal and professional lives, going through their history together with interviews of the couple.

+4
View gallery

His former Spice Girl turned fashion designer wife Victoria (pictured), 49, meanwhile, showed she’d still rather not talk about the situation, according to Judi James

+4
View gallery

After the British footballing superstar, 48, moved to Spain to play for Real Madrid in 2003, David found himself hit by allegations that he’d had an affair with his PA Rebecca Loos, pictured in December 2004, which put his marriage under intense scrutiny

In the series the couple speak publicly for the first time about David’s alleged affair with personal assistant Rebecca Loos.

Almost 20 years after it was claimed he and the personal assistant had become close while he was playing in Spain for Real Madrid, Mrs Beckham revealed that the months afterwards were the ‘hardest’ of her life and that she no longer felt like the couple ‘had each other’.

Meanwhile, Beckham admitted he still doesn’t know how they got through the 2003 crisis but he and his former Spice Girl wife knew they had to ‘fight for their family’, and said they felt like they were ‘drowning’ when their high-profile marriage was in the headlines for months.

The former England captain also told how he ‘felt physically sick every day’ as he and Mrs Beckham faced a battle to save their marriage.

In a searingly honest interview in the fourth and final episode, Mrs Beckham appeared to fight back tears as she was asked if it was the hardest time in their marriage. ‘100 per cent,’ she confessed. ‘It was the hardest period for us. Because it felt like the world was against us.

‘Here’s the thing, we were against each other, if I’m being completely honest. Up until Madrid sometimes it felt like us against everybody else but we were together, we were connected, we had each other. But when we were in Spain, it didn’t really feel like we had each other either. And that’s sad. I can’t even begin to tell you how hard it was. And how it affected me.’

Beckham stunned the world when his alleged relationship with Ms Loos was revealed in the now defunct News Of The World newspaper. At the time Mrs Beckham had decided to remain in the UK so that her young sons Brooklyn and Romeo could stay in their schools. The decision left Beckham lonely, and he admits that he struggled.

He said: ‘When I first moved to Spain it was difficult because I had been part of a club and a family for my whole career, from the age of 15 to when I was 27. I get sold overnight, the next minute I’m in a city, I don’t speak the language. More importantly, I didn’t have my family.

+4
View gallery

The painful aftermath is just one of the moments explored in his four-part docuseries BECKHAM – with body language expert Judi telling FEMAIL how David (pictured) often appeared ‘vulnerable’ in his tell-all documentary, and even angry at one point

‘Every time that we woke up we felt there was something else… we both felt at the time that we were not losing each other but drowning.’

Asked how their marriage survived, Beckham told how he feared playing football while his wife struggled to find a way through their crisis.

Shaking his head, he said: ‘I don’t know how we got through it, in all honestly. Victoria is everything to me, to see her hurt was incredibly difficult, but we’re fighters and at that time we needed to fight for each other, we needed to fight for our family.

‘And what we had was worth fighting for. There were some days that I would wake up and think, ‘How am I going to go to work? How am I going to walk on to that training pitch? How am I going to look as if nothing’s wrong?’ I felt physically sick every day when I opened my eyes, ‘How am I going to do this?’

The crisis prompted Mrs Beckham to relocate to Madrid, where they bought a £3million home which she says she decorated herself. She later went on to have the couple’s third son, Cruz, now 18, in the Spanish capital.

Despite creating a base for her family in Madrid, she admits she was not happy with leaving the UK. She said: ‘As soon as I could get the kids in school, we then move full-time. Did I resent David? If I am being totally honest, yes I did.

‘It was probably, if I’m being honest, the most unhappy I have ever been in my life. It wasn’t that I felt unheard because I chose to internalise a lot of it because I was always mindful of a focus that he needed.’

Mrs Beckham described their time in Madrid as a ‘nightmare’ and ‘an absolute circus’, while Beckham said the school run was ‘live on Spanish TV’.

During the programme, the footballing superstar also told of his struggles with his mental health after he became public enemy number one following his sending off against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup.

David choked back the tears as he reflected on being blamed for England’s tournament exit after lashing out at Diego Simeone, sparking a lengthy campaign of hate and abuse from fans.

Recalling the turbulent period, which David faced at the age of just 23, the athlete confessed he was a ‘mess’ and left unable to eat or sleep, with his wife Victoria revealing he suffered from clinical depression and the experience ‘broke’ him.

David recalled feeling ‘very vulnerable and alone’ as he landed back in the UK to hordes of jeering spectators and negative press, with his father Ted admitting David was ‘distraught’ when he met him, saying the young sports star ‘fell into my arms and said, “I’ve let everybody down.”‘

Analysing David’s body language during this segment, Judi said: ‘What happened in ’98 brings out a different response of vulnerability.

‘He self-diminishes here, sitting hunched in his chair as he re-lives the shame of what was effectively getting cancelled in the days before social media.

‘He doesn’t seem to have built any distance between himself and this event, still re-living it in a way to suggest it might haunt him now as much as then.

‘He sucks his lips in a gesture of regret and his voice breaks as the tears come again. In an act of distraction and a self-comfort ritual he fiddles with his bracelet, falling silent as he regurgitates the full horror of that “hero to zero” moment.’