--- title: Victoria Beckham Writes Letter to Her 18-Year-Old Self description: Victoria Beckham has penned a powerful letter to her 18-year-old self, to accompany her cover shoot for the October issue of British Vogue canonical: https://time.com/4477345/victoria-beckham-you-are-not-the-prettiest-or-the-thinnest/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-02T12:21:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:17.490Z og:title: Victoria Beckham Writes Letter to Her 18-Year-Old Self og:description: She wrote it to accompany her cover shoot for the October issue of British Vogue og:url: https://time.com/4477345/victoria-beckham-you-are-not-the-prettiest-or-the-thinnest/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf090defed4289224/6988a4b1196cf455a003d0fb/ap_689437697434.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2417 og:image:height: 1360 og:image:alt: Victoria Beckham og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Victoria Beckham Writes Letter to Her 18-Year-Old Self twitter:description: She wrote it to accompany her cover shoot for the October issue of British Vogue twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf090defed4289224/6988a4b1196cf455a003d0fb/ap_689437697434.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'You Are Not the Prettiest, Or the Thinnest,' Writes Victoria Beckham in a Letter to Her 18-Year-Old Self by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Sep 2, 2016 12:21 PM UTC  Victoria Beckham has penned a powerful and sympathetic letter to her 18-year-old self, to accompany her cover shoot for the October issue of British Vogue Victoria Beckham has penned a powerful and sympathetic letter to her 18-year-old self, to accompany her cover shoot for the October issue of British VogueEvan Agostini—Evan Agostini/Invision/AP by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Sep 2, 2016 12:21 PM UTC [Victoria Beckham](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1882059%5F1882224%5F1881933,00.html) has penned a powerful and sympathetic letter to her 18-year-old self, to accompany her cover shoot for the October issue of [_British Vogue_](http://www.vogue.co.uk/article/victoria-beckham-october-vogue-cover-star). The [mother-of-four](http://motto.time.com/4405055/victoria-beckham-kissed-daughter-parenting-controversies/) reveals the insecurities with her looks and weight that she felt during her teenage years. “You are not the prettiest, or the thinnest, or the best at dancing at… college,” she writes. “You have bad acne. You think the principal has put you at the back of the end-of-year show… because you are too plump to go at the front. (This may or may not be true.)” But the former Spice Girl then adds: “Fashion will take on added stature one day, but try not to be stifled by it. You will learn, as you mature, to swap heels for Stan Smith trainers, minidresses for crisp white shirts. And you will never be one of those people who just roll out of bed.” > [](https://twitter.com/victoriabeckham/status/771487254288171029) Beckham also touches upon the first time she met her footballer husband [David](http://time.com/3843859/david-beckham-photos/)[ Beckham](http://time.com/3843859/david-beckham-photos/), admitting “yes, love at first sight does exist. It will happen to you in the Manchester United players’ lounge – although you will get a little drunk, so exact details are hazy”. She reminds her former self that at the time of the meeting with her future spouse, she will be the famous one and when David asks for her number, she will write it on London-to-Manchester plane ticket the couple have kept to this day. The English fashion icon and businesswoman’s moving letter comes after a [report](http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what-we-do/research/the-good-childhood-report) suggested more than a third of young girls in Britain are unhappy with the way they look. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4477345/victoria-beckham-you-are-not-the-prettiest-or-the-thinnest/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4477345/victoria-beckham-you-are-not-the-prettiest-or-the-thinnest/"},"headline":"'You Are Not the Prettiest, Or the Thinnest,' Writes Victoria Beckham in a Letter to Her 18-Year-Old Self","datePublished":"2016-09-02T12:21:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:17.490Z","description":"She also wrote about the first time she met David, admitting that \"yes, love at first sight does exist\"","url":"https://time.com/4477345/victoria-beckham-you-are-not-the-prettiest-or-the-thinnest/","keywords":["motto","victoria beckham","David Beckham"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf090defed4289224/6988a4b1196cf455a003d0fb/ap_689437697434.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf090defed4289224/6988a4b1196cf455a003d0fb/ap_689437697434.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Victoria Beckham","caption":"Victoria Beckham","creditText":"Evan Agostini—Evan Agostini/Invision/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4477345/victoria-beckham-you-are-not-the-prettiest-or-the-thinnest/","name":"'You Are Not the Prettiest, Or the Thinnest,' Writes Victoria Beckham in a Letter to Her 18-Year-Old Self"}}]}] ```