David Beckham Reveals He “Absolutely” Fell in Love With Victoria Beckham at First Sight

“Well, of course. She was a Spice Girl and sexy and beautiful and charming.” Much like the rest of the world, David Beckham couldn’t help but fall head over heels for Victoria Beckham when he saw her for the very first time. Sure, being Posh Spice might have had a little something to do with the rate of which he fell for his wife, but the former soccer star ultimately stuck around for her incredible personality. While attending Stella Artois’ Let’s Do Dinner event in New York City on September 19, David was asked if he experienced “love at first sight” with Victoria. His answer was equal parts simple and sweet: “Absolutely,” he told People. In fact, it was hard for David to not fall for Victoria so quickly—”Well, of course,” he added. “She was a Spice Girl and sexy and beautiful and charming. Then I found out what a strong woman she is. So it’s again the gift that kept on giving.”

Such strength has allowed David and Victoria to stay married for 27 years and counting, which is no small feat, regardless of their celebrity status. Their relationship hasn’t been without its ups and downs, though—on the May 20 episode of Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett’s SmartLess podcast, David spoke about his Beckham documentary and shared that he and Victoria “both get emotional about” thinking about everything that they’ve experienced in their years together. “After watching the documentary, after everything was over and we watched it finally, that’s the one thing that we looked at each other and was like, ‘I don’t know how we got through the last 27 years, but we did, and we have an amazing family, we have amazing businesses, and we’re happy,'” he said. “Of course, when you’re with someone for that amount of time, of course you have your ups and downs, everybody knows that and at the end of the day we were lucky because we had each other at those moments.”