OK! Magazine
Victoria Adams
After the triumphant Spice Girls tour of America,
Posh Spice prepares for motherhood and marrige.
"Please don't make me look Noel Edmonds!" Laughs Victoria 'Posh Spice' Adams, as Brian Aris - who shot Noel for OK! just a few weeks ago - sets up another photograph with the newly pregnant Spice Girl. 'Actually I like Noel,' she says, 'it's just those terrible jumpers he wears. Can't you have a word?'
With just two more venues to play in the Spice Girls' exhausting 50-date tour of America, Victoria Adams is on good form. Trapped in the Presidential suite of the Four Seasons hotel in Irving, Texas, by a pack of paparazzi eager to get the first shot of her 'bump', Victoria seems almost de-mob happy. 'It's weird actually,' she says, 'because up to now I've been the Spice Girl who nobody recognised in America. They only know me with a bob, you see, and I haven't got it any more.'
All that has changed now, of course.
She was briefly pursued by the press in America after her fiance David Beckham was shown a red card in the World Cup - a mishap which many believe speeded England's exit from the tournament - but Victoria's pregnancy, followed just 24 hours later by the news that fellow Spice Girl Mel B was also expecting, has brought the reporters to her door once more.
'Still I suppose it's good news for the tabloids to print,' she says. 'Normally they just love the bad stuff.'
In the first part of a major series of exclusive interviews with Victoria, and later with David Beckham - leading up to their wedding next year OK! spoke at length to the 24-year-old Spice Girl.
Victoria, can I congratulate you on your pregnancy?
Yeah... but the thing is, at the moment, I'm not really going to talk about it, because it's very early. I didn't want the news to come out so early, you know. I can talk about it properly when I get home and I've had tests and everything. Today, I'm seeing David for the first time in ages which is lovely.
But you are definatly pregnant...
I don't want to confirm anything until but i'm only going to talk about it to OK!
Are you superstitous about discussing it?
Yes, I am, and I think you understand.
Are you worried about loosing your figure?
Oh, God no, I don't worry about that!
You've said the whole band are looking forward to being mums one day...
Obviously that's something we're all looking forward to - it's only natural. I think you find different things in life that make you happy. We're all human in the Spice Girls at the end of the day, and we're all women as well. And we've all said having a family was something we wanted to do.
So now there will be 'Spice Babies' all over the place?
I hope so!
So, how are apart from all this?
Fine! The tour has been brilliant - the audiences over here have been amazing. It's funny, because when we were per-forming in Europe we'd see a lot of kids dressed like all of us. But out here, the kids dress like Spice Girls... and do the the mums. You'll see a 45-year-old woman dressed like Baby Spice in a little skirt and pigtails. I've seen a few Posh Spices. They do alright, but they always have dodgy clothes when they're being me.
You must be exhausted...
Well, we do get a little tired, but we get a bit of time off. The schedule now is our schedule, because we look after ourselves. And it's good fun. That's what keeps you going. But it's hot out here. We're performing at a lot of amphitheatres - half indoor and half outdoors. Comming out in a PVC catsuit in 100 degrees-F isn't that comfy.
Have you discovered qualities in yourself you didn't know were there?
I miss my family more than I thought I would. I mean, it's great to go out for glamorous dinners. shopping and things like that, but there's a bigger part of me that would rather stay in with my family and have a takeaway. When you can do what you want to do, you realise what you really enjoy doing. Sometimes it's difficult when you're in America and all you want is a cuddle.
Unless you cuddle one of the other girls...
Or a pillow. A four seasons hotel pillow. David's got more muscle!
There are hundreds of bands and artists crisscrossing American every day. Have you bumped into any of them?
Actually, Prince came into our dressing room the other day. He sat with us in the interval and we all had a chat. He's a very nice bloke. Ever so small. He actually said: 'I am so surprised with this show - it's really, really good. You've done well.'
We've also met Madonna a few times. She came back with her little girl at Madison Square Gardens and said, 'Oh can I have a drink?' and we just sat around together. I mean you're talking away and there's part of you that says 'This is Madonna'. And it was funny because David walked in and I said in a stage whisper, 'Come and meet Madonna!' And he's saying 'No...' So I dragged him over and Madonna said, 'Oh you must be that soccer player.' That went down well with his mates anyway!
Now that you're engaged, does it feel different being away from David?
To be honest, I miss him like I've never missed anyone before. He's been out here after the World Cup, he came out - and I have had a long time to prepare myself for this, which is the longest time we've ever been apart. But I don't feel any easier knowing that we're getting married. I don't think: 'Oh he's tied down now.'
You've both faced considerable difficulties this year - the Spice Girls sacked their manager, lost a member and were written off in various quarters. And David went from World Cup hero to villian in the blink of an eye. How have the pair of you coped with it all?
I think we helped each other get through it. I mean, obviously David did encounter a lot of bad press after the World Cup, and I think it was absolutley disgusting the way he was treated. It was horrible for us and our families as well - I think that's what a lot of people don't realise. All these people that are being horrible would they like it if it was being done to their son or daughter?
Did he cry over it?
Not to me. But it is very upsetting. Some of the press was unforgivable, hateful - and an incitement to violence. At the end of the day, we're all human and I can't understand anyone writing those things. But there was a funny side to it, like the bloke who got arrested printing 20,000 red cards. [The man planned to distribute them at the West Ham game against Manchester United, so that the fans could hold them up to taunt David]. At first, David was like 'Can you believe this bloke has done it?' And I said 'Yes, but David, someone has bothered to sit down and print 20,000 red cards. You should be flattered!' Imagine how long it took to cut out all the paper!
Was there a big part of you thinking, 'Well, maybe he should leave the Premiership and play abroad'?
Whether he goes abroad, stays here, whatever he does - as long as he's happy, that's the main thing. I could live in a dustbin bag with David and I'd be happy. But at the moment he's happy where he is. When they booed David a while back, I'd say, 'Just ignore it', and he'd say, 'I do ignore it, but it is quite offensive.' But then we [the Spice Girls] got booed off the stage in Barcelona - which, in actual fact wasn't meant for us. It was people booing at the photographers who were trying to take our pictures. But there was a lot of booing, and it was so offensive, and I thought 'God, I really know how David feels now.'
But he also gets the mst dreadful things chanted at him about you. Really awful and obscene. Doesn't that upset you?
Do you know what? I don't care what anyone says, apart from the other girls, my family and David. I have had so many horrible things written about me and so many good things. If I believe the good things, I'd be such an uncontrollable big head, and if I took notice of the bad things, I'd be a wreck in the corner of the room.
Did David ever tell you why he kicked out at that player, by the way?
No.
Did you ever ask him?
No.
There were some recent pictures of your father getting into the new Porsche you boght him. Tell me a bit about your dad.
I've always had a good relationship with all my family. I was never particularly spoilt as a child - probably emotionally, I was given lots of cuddles and things like that. But I wasn't spoilt. And they are very, very supportive. My dad used to be in a band in the sixties - everything I'm doing he wanted to do. And now I'm in a position to be able to buy people things... I don't throw my money about, and I'm not flash, left right and centre. But it was his birthday, and I wanted to say: 'Here you are - go and have a drive about in this.' It's nice to be able to do that, isn't it?
And your mum - how is she adapting to the rock'n'roll lifestyle?
Whenever our mums come out, if we're a bit tired, it's just nice to have a mum there to say, 'There, there' And it's nice to have a bit of company as well.
Did you have any inkling that Geri Halliwell was going to leave the group?
We didn't have any idea. She just felt it was time to move on; she had other things to do. But we're all still friends; we still talk; and we wish her all the luck in the world.
Did she make the right decision?
It wouldn't have been a decision I would make myself. But she's happy with it.
Do you think Geri was always 100 percent happy being a Spice Girl?
I think she was. We had some good times together, and Geri was really funny, good to talk to, grown up.
I enjoyed her company a hell of a lot - and still do.
A lot of people will look at your life and think, 'Victoria's go it all'. But is there any part of it that's unfulfilled?
No, I do feel quite fulfilled and I know many people will think I've got a perfect life and that I am very lucky. But I think a lot of people would be surprised if they did see how much work the Spice Girls actually do. I don't think I had a particularly great education. I mean I've got qualifications and I worked hard at school, but I probably could have done better.
So you might go back to college?
Psychology interests me, actually - especially having travelled round the world and met so many different types of people.
What are your immediate plans when you get home from this tour?
I'm going to have a bit of a break, but I'm not going on holiday. David and I just bought a house, so I'm going to decorate that, spend time with Louse [Victoria's sister], and see my mother. There are friends I haven't seen in a year.
Have you already got colours and designs in mind for the new house?
Not really. I want to go and see what the house is really like first, to tell the truth. We bought it [reported to be a mansion in Cheshire] before I went awat, so we haven't really had the chance to think much about it.
Does David practise any do-it-yourself?
No! My dad comes down and does all that sort of thing for him, and my mum. David did try a little while ago - he tried to nail some carpet to the bottom of the dog's house. He did alright, but it wasn't really his thing.
And your wedding next year? Are you starting to think about it?
There's a lot to organise. I could have run abroad and done it very quickly, but I really want it to be a special day.
And how will you ever decide what to wear on your big day?
Just wait and see! It's going to be great!
Email: poshginger_10@hotmail.com
