Just like other parents, the Beckhams put their family first instead of painting a perfect picture for the world outside.
Every individual has a different parenting style but one thing most parents would agree on is the safety of their children. Parents become mama and papa bears when their kids' lives are in danger and they do everything possible to protect their children. Especially when a child has special needs or an illness, whether someone is a celebrity or a normal person, that feeling might be even more intense.
Victoria and David Beckham are one of the most beautiful and successful couples in the world. They have had great careers and a stable family life. They are parents to four children, Brooklyn, 21, Romeo, 17, Cruz, 15, and Harper, 9. They are an inspiration to a lot of people but they are not perfect. Their family is not perfect. Just like others, they have faced challenges as a couple. One of the biggest challenges was the health of their son, Romeo.
As a celebrity couple, it is normal for them to be photographed wherever they go but that simple action can put their middle son's life in danger. Between 2002 and 2006, when Romeo was four, the family had made multiple trips to the hospital. They hadn't publicly revealed until then why that was happening but it was a life-threatening situation for Romeo.
Finally, the parents took a stand and revealed that Romeo has epilepsy. Photographers had tried to click photos of the child at an airport in 2006 and he tried to cover his face. When the mother and son were in the car, the former Spice Girls member also tried to cover him.
In November 2006, the family was at the Heathrow airport when the child became scared and agitated at the photographers' behavior. They were returning to Britain from Madrid with Romeo and his brothers Brooklyn, 7, and Cruz, 1. Romeo had covered his eyes initially while his mom pushed him through the terminal building in his buggy. Once they were inside the car, he started screaming in terror. He thrashed his legs as one photographer pressed his camera inside the car and the flashbulbs went off. Posh, then 32, was horrified and shielded him, yelling, "Leave him alone," as per Pop Sugar.
According to People magazine, she then angrily told the photographers, "He’s got epilepsy…all that flashing will start an epileptic fit…you can’t do that."
They had only been trying to protect Romeo from the flashbulbs of the camera. The then-4-year-old child's condition was so serious that he had been rushed to the hospital four times in the last three years, as per PopSugar. He was under treatment but even with the medicines, flash photography can be life-threatening causing a seizure. The mother had to make the revelation, which could only have been hard for her, as the paparazzi started taking the child's photo aggressively.
After that incident, Kevin Smith, owner of Splash news, the news agency that was trying to photograph them, said, "No picture is worth putting a child's life in danger. Now that we know Romeo has epilepsy I will not be authorizing any of my photographers to take flash pictures of him. I think this is absolutely the right thing to do and I hope other agencies follow suit."
Romeo is now 17 and taller than his 6 ft tall father. The aspiring tennis player shared a photo with his dad on Instagram lasy year. "Amazing day at universal ♥️ p.s I’m officially taller than my dad.' [sic]" he wrote.
He is a young man with his dreams and aspirations and he can go after them only because his parents wanted to protect him from the world.
In July 2020, he was caught on camera in a funny moment. The family had jetted off to Italy, with newly-engaged Brooklyn and fiancé Nicola Anne Peltz. Romeo was driving a golf cart that was full of his and Beckham's equipment which toppled as the 17-year-old drove away. The former soccer player can be heard laughing in the video, as per Hello! magazine.
References:
https://www.popsugar.com/celebrity/Victoria-Reveals-Romeo-Has-Epilepsy-58896
