David Beckham admits marriage 'hard work'

Beckham said he and wife Victoria teach their children the importance of hard work

"Hard work" is the key to his 19-year marriage, David Beckham has admitted.

He has "grown to ignore some of the negative stuff" that is said about him and wife Victoria, he told Australian TV show The Sunday Project.

The pair are "proud of the family" and teach their four children - Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper - the importance of hard work, he added.

Beckham spoke to the programme before joining the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in Australia for the Invictus Games.

The couple attended the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's wedding in Windsor

"I think if you know each other well, if you know you've got great friends and great family behind you, the thing we have to do is protect our children and we are very proud of the family," he said on the show.

"We are hard working and we feel that is the right way to bring up our children to prove and to show to them you have to work really hard to be successful," he went on.

The retired footballer also touched on a recent Vogue front cover image of the Beckham clan - which he was absent from.

"Difficult situations"

He explained that the cover was "all about Victoria's 10 years in fashion".

"The amount she has achieved in such a short space of time - four beautiful young children, we have a beautiful dog - but obviously in her business world to be on the front cover of Vogue was a huge thing and then we did a separate picture for another cover," he said.

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"But to be married for the amount of time that we have, it's always hard work, everybody knows that but you make it work.

"You make difficult situations like travelling away, being away from each other, you make it work."

Looking ahead to his attendance at the Invictus Games for wounded service personnel, he commented: "With Harry, to have come up with something that changes people's lives is incredible and I'm going over as an ambassador of the games but I'm really going over as a fan."