David Beckham has opened up about the “tiring” obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) habits that keep him up all night in a new documentary series for Netflix.
The series, which is currently without a title and due for release later this year, will look into the former England footballer’s life and past as camera crews are given full access to his home.
In early footage seen by The Sun, Beckham spoke candidly about his cleaning habits, explaining that he will spend hours tidying after his family go to bed. “I clean it so well, I’m not sure it’s actually appreciated so much by my wife, in all honesty,” he said from his kitchen.
“The fact that when everyone’s in bed I then go around, clean the candles, turn the lights on to the right setting, make sure everywhere is tidy. I hate coming down in the morning and there’s cups and plates and, you know, bowls.”
Beckham said in the documentary – for which he is reported to have earned £16m – that he also cleans every candle after it’s been used, even though he finds the process “tiring”.
“I clip the candle wax, I clean the glass, that’s my pet hate, the smoke around the inside of a candle,” he said, adding: “I know, it’s weird.”
While Beckham is shown telling his wife, Victoria Beckham, off for failing to put away the salt, she told him that he’s “so perfect” and is “appreciated”.
“Don’t believe that for a second,” Beckham replied. “She sounds so sarcastic when she says it.”
David Beckham has previously opened up about living with OCD. In 2006, Beckham spoke for the first time about the condition, and his need to rearrange hotel rooms and line up cans of soft drinks to make “everything perfect”.
“I’ve got this obsessive compulsive disorder where I have to have everything in a straight line or everything has to be in pairs. I’ll put my Pepsi cans in the fridge and if there’s one too many then I’ll put it in another cupboard somewhere,” he said in an ITV1 interview at the time.
“I’ll go into a hotel room and before I can relax, I have to move all the leaflets and all the books and put them in a drawer. Everything has to be perfect,” he said. When asked if he wanted to stop his obsessive behaviour, Beckham admitted: “I would like to. I’ve tried and can’t stop.”
His wife Victoria has also spoken about her husband’s OCD in the past, previously telling one interviewer: “He’s got that obsessive compulsive thing where everything has to match. If you open our fridge, it’s all co-ordinated down either side. We’ve got three fridges - food in one, salad in another and drinks in the third. In the drinks one, everything is symmetrical. If there’s three cans, he’ll throw one away because it has to be an even number. “
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition where obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours come together to create significant distress and disturbance in day-to-day life.
While the anxiety disorder is often seen in relation to cleaning or tidying, it can affect people in many different ways.
It is unknown whether Beckham has been clinically diagnosed with OCD.
