Victoria Beckham covers the latest issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK. I feel sorry for Victoria these days, am I alone? It’s just that I’ve actually come around to liking her, and it feels like she’s the only one holding a lot of sh-t together. She’s raising her kids while David spends the bulk of his time in Miami, doing God knows what. Her marriage isn’t in great shape, but she still talks up David constantly and wants that happy-family image. And just when Victoria really became a good designer with a good vision, her business is in shambles. The VB brand is losing millions and I feel like she’s putting a lot into her new organic skincare line. I feel like that will probably lose money too. Mess. But Victoria keeps on getting magazine covers to promote it and talk up her label. So here we are. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:

Victoria tries: “I never just woke up like this… I learnt an enormous amount being very young and very, very famous. You realise it’s much more difficult to maintain success than it is to actually achieve it – and it’s not as glamorous as people would think.”

Her designs are really good these days: “I was really focusing on the brand, looking at its DNA and at my community, being true to who I am and what my strengths are. I see those as beautiful clothes, great silhouettes, strange colours that you wouldn’t typically put together, which are almost so wrong they’re right. It’s about presenting clothes that are elevated enough for the catwalk but that people are actually going to wear; it’s never about showing fashion for the sake of showing fashion. I don’t want to wear things that are complicated. I’m always developing what I want in my wardrobe and I think it’s important that evolves, so you don’t get stuck in a rut, shall we say.”

Her organic skincare line: “I’ve been obsessed with make-up and skincare and wellness for longer than I can remember. But I couldn’t find what I wanted – clean beauty. What is that, even? It’s a real grey area. I wanted to create a brand of the future – focusing on what’s in the formulas but then also sustainability. The other thing that was key was making sure it was very inclusive – whether it’s make-up or skincare, this is for every skin type and tone, and for both women and men.”

Comfort in her own skin: “Do I think of myself as beautiful? No, absolutely not. But I make the best of what I have. I see my imperfections and flaws and I smile: it’s who I am and I’m not going to try to change that. It’s taken me a long, long time to recognise that by 45 years old, actually I’m all right. I work hard, I look OK, I’ve got four children that I’m incredibly proud of, a wonderful husband and I feel content. When you’re growing up, you obsess over the silliest of things, but when you get older, you learn how to be comfortable in your own skin.”

Hands-on mom: “I’m very lucky to have a job that doesn’t feel like a job; it’s my passion. So I love going to work. But with the kids, both David and I are really hands-on. Yes, I’m up early working out but one of us will do the school run and we always try to be home by dinnertime. We’re very strict about that when we’re in London – at 6pm we are all together, eating dinner, talking about our days. We communicate a lot – we’re a very close family.”

Date night: “That would be dinner with my husband, in London, with a really nice bottle of wine, just the two of us. Date night, I suppose! I always laugh about “date night” because we’ve been together 23 years, but we really enjoy each other’s company. David loves wine; I don’t know an enormous amount about it but I’m educating myself. I mean, that’s the other great thing about getting older, you find new interests. I was never into nice wine and art before, but I’m enjoying learning.”

[From Harper’s Bazaar]

“We’re very strict about that when we’re in London – at 6pm we are all together, eating dinner, talking about our days.” Yeah but… how often if David in London, doing the school runs and spending time with the fam? Because it seems like he’s in Miami a lot. That’s not on Victoria – they clearly want to still be married, and I guess Victoria will continue to look the other way regarding his extracurriculars. But damn, she’s right when she says the reality isn’t that glamorous.

Covers courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar UK.