Victoria Beckham has said that she and husband David Beckham received messages threatening to kidnap their first-born son, 

Brooklyn, in the wake of the soccer star’s infamous red card at the 1998 World Cup.

In a new, four-part Netflix docuseries about David Beckham, the former Manchester United player’s father, Ted, also said the midfielder was sent bullets in the mail.

During England’s game against Argentina in the last 16 of the ’98 World Cup, 

Beckham was shown a red card after kicking Diego Simeone, resulting in him being sent off for the remainder of the match.

Argentina went on to win the game via a penalty shootout and eliminate England. Beckham faced ire from England fans over the team’s loss.

Brooklyn was born around eight months after the incident in March 1999.

“We were getting kidnapping threats right from when we had Brooklyn and you can’t even explain how that feels because we couldn’t hide,” Victoria said in episode two of “Beckham.”

“Imagine having a baby and having death threats?” she added. “David had to play knowing this was all going on and I was on my own in an apartment with a baby.”

Beckham said that the night Brooklyn was born, he slept by the door out of fear somebody would try and take his son.

“That night, Brooklyn slept next to Victoria. Victoria was like, ‘Come and squeeze on the bed with me,’ and I said, ‘Absolutely not,'” he recalled.

“I’m sleeping with my head against the door because I was paranoid someone was going to steal him,” he said. “It’s meant to be a happy moment, and it was, of course. But I was worried.”

Because of his red card, Beckham was heavily blamed by fans and journalists for England’s early exit at the ’98 World Cup.

In the documentary, the soccer player said he was booed by supporters, abused, and spat on in the street. An effigy of him was even hanged outside of a London pub.

“What I went through was so extreme,” Beckham said in the Netflix docuseries. “The whole country hated me. Hated me. It changed my life. I felt very vulnerable and alone. Wherever I went I got abuse every single day.”

“People look at you in a certain way, spit at you, abuse you, come up to your face and say some of the things that they said,” he added. “That was difficult.”

David Beckham’s father, Ted, also recalled his son being sent bullets.

“Kathy found bullets in letters,” said Ted, referring to Kath Phipps, who worked as a receptionist at Manchester United at the time. “So the club had to get the police in because of the threats to him.”

Phipps said that the incident was so upsetting she still can’t talk about it.

“I would never speak about that,” she said. “Please forgive me but I would never speak about that.”

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Source: USA Today