Victoria

VICTORIA Beckham has shared a sweet message for Geri Horner as they spend time together after the Spice Girls reunion was cancelled.

Geri, 53, showed up to support Victoria’s son Cruz and his band The Breakers at their final gig in London on Friday night.

Victoria, 51, appreciated her pal’s support as she took to her Instagram stories to share a snap of the two of them.

In the picture, the two women are seen smiling while twinning in white t-shirts mid gig.

Posh Spice wrote across it: “Last night! @cruzbeckham @itsthebreakers. Love you @gerihalliwellhorner.”

The longtime pals also posed for a photo with Victoria’s other half David as they watched Cruz sing his heart out on stage.

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Their reunion comes after The Sun exclusively revealed that the Spice Girls’ 30th anniversary reunion has been cancelled as they failed to pull their plans together in time.

Victoria and Geri as well as Mel C, Mel B and Emma Bunton had been in talks to reunite for a string of concerts to mark three decades since the release of their debut single Wannabe.

The Sun understands they failed to reach an agreement and plans for a comeback tour in 2026 have been ditched.

Confirming the news during an interview on The Smallzy Show on Australia’s KIIS Radio, Mel C, 52, said: “No, there is no reunion.

“We are communicating all the time. We want to do something – who knows when.

“But I still feel very optimistic and I keep my fingers crossed that you will see the Spice Girls together at some point in the future.”

The Sun told last April how Geri was back in touch with the band’s former manager Simon Fuller and had flown out to Miami to try and agree on a deal.

As recently as January, Mel C had insisted they were still in active discussions about celebrating the milestone.

And even Victoria had prompted hopes she could return to the group, saying she “loves” the idea of a residency at Las Vegas venue Sphere.

She said in October of the prospect: “It would be tempting. But could I take on a world tour? No I can’t. I have a job…

“How good would the Spice Girls be at the Sphere! I love the idea of it. I mean I don’t know if I could even still sing, I mean I was never that great!”

However, in recent weeks, plans have fallen apart, with just a collectible coin from the Royal Mint being announced to mark the anniversary.

A planned Netflix drama based on the group was shelved last month amid reported tensions in the group.

The Spice Girls have not performed together as a five-piece since the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony.

They last reunited without Posh in 2019 for a sold out 13-date stadium tour of the UK and Ireland, selling 700,000 tickets and making £4.4m each.

Victoria Pedretti was fresh out of Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama when she was cast in Mike Flanagan’s acclaimed 2018 horror series, “The Haunting of Hill House.”

In her breakout role as Nell Crain, the youngest and most sensitive of five adult siblings reckoning with wounds from a childhood summer spent in a cursed home, Pedretti became the undisputed heart of “Hill House,” anchoring the show with a spellbinding performance that christened her as a scream queen. Her subsequent appearances in “The Haunting of Bly Manor” and “You” were characterized by a similar dramatic intensity, solidifying her renown in the horror genre.

But in Pedretti’s new “Forbidden Fruits,” a horror-comedy directed by Meredith Alloway making her feature debut and produced by “Jennifer’s Body” screenwriter Diablo Cody, the actor shines in all-new soapy splendor.

Set in a Dallas shopping mall, “Forbidden Fruits” revolves around an elite clique of retail employees who run a witches’ coven out of the basement of their boho boutique Free Eden. Pedretti stars alongside Lili Reinhart, Lola Tung and Alexandra Shipp.

Victoria Pedretti in the movie “Forbidden Fruits.”

(Sabrina Lantos / Independent Film Company and Shudder)

Initially asked to look at both the roles of whimsigoth physics buff Fig and the bubbly yet emotionally complex Cherry, described by Alloway as a “Texas Brigitte Bardot,” Pedretti fell hard for the latter.

“She really popped off the page,” Pedretti, 31, says on a recent Zoom interview she takes while on a sandwich run in L.A. “I entered into this glorious flow state.”

“I can’t say I’ve had any experience quite like it, where I really didn’t spend a lot of time questioning myself,” the actor says. “She kind of took over.”

That confidence was perhaps the product of Pedretti performing in two stage plays before “Forbidden Fruits” — or maybe it was the nighttime filming schedule. Either way, Pedretti says she improvised constantly and always kept swinging until somebody said, “Cut.”

The result: Pedretti in Alloway’s instant cult classic is a laugh-out-loud-funny unending well of charm, packing humor into even her most routine dialogue. In her best quotable moments, she seamlessly infuses her sometimes shrill timbre with a dash of Southern drawl. One of her most iconic facial expressions in the film is already circulating as a reaction meme online.

“I was enjoying being in this character so much, I just wouldn’t stop,” Pedretti says, adding that Alloway, who was sensitive to cast members’ interpretations of their roles, supported experimentation.

Alloway praises the Philadelphia-born Pedretti for nailing Cherry’s comedic moments yet also grounding the character in a traumatic backstory — a balancing act the director knew she was capable of after watching “Hill House.”

“I saw her in that show and I was like, ‘Who is that?’” Alloway says. “She is magnificent and so raw. I didn’t feel like I was watching someone acting. I was worried for her.”

After later watching Pedretti nail her role in “You” as Love Quinn, a wealthy, charismatic chef who hides a psychopathic nature, Alloway was convinced of her star power.

Victoria Pedretti in the movie “You.”

(John P. Fleenor / Netflix)

Cody was most familiar with Pedretti’s performance in “You,” pegging the actor as an “intense brunet” that didn’t square at first with her interpretation of Cherry as an Anna Nicole Smith type.

“Then I see the movie and I’m like, oh my God, she has that fragility,” Cody recalls. “She has that humor. She has that sexuality. She has all of it.

“Victoria brought all of those layers and I’m really blown away by her,” the Oscar-winning “Juno” screenwriter adds.

Cody says she wasn’t surprised that the film drew such talent. From the moment Alloway and Lily Houghton, who wrote the play “Forbidden Fruits” is based on and cowrote the film’s screenplay, brought the material to Cody and her producing partner Mason Novick, she became obsessed.

“It feels spiritually like a film that I would want to be part of my body of work,” Cody says. She remembers being especially delighted by the echoes of “Jennifer’s Body” present in Alloway and Houghton’s screenplay.

“Jennifer’s Body” was widely considered a box-office flop and critical failure upon its release in 2009 — grossing only $31 million worldwide against a $16-million budget — but in recent years has enjoyed a reappraisal as a stealth-feminist essential, reclaimed by superfans.

“I don’t think that the world was ready for these kinds of themes,” Cody says of the movie’s ideas, including the cost of toxic femininity, the nuances of female friendship and the pervasiveness of the male gaze.

When it came to promoting “Jennifer’s Body,” the producer adds, “there was a huge emphasis on trying to market it to straight men, based on Megan [Fox] being attractive, and that was not at all the point of the film, so that was frustrating.” Conversely, “Forbidden Fruits” speaks intimately to the female experience and “doesn’t attempt to pander to any other demographic.”

“The current zeitgeist is a great place for a movie like this,” she says. “This movie is for the girls, gays and theys, as they say.”

Alloway, a trained actor who worked as a film journalist before moving into directing, was struck with a similar feeling when she first discovered Houghton’s play, right around the time she was consuming copious media about women criminals, such as Tori Telfer’s 2017 book “Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History.”

“I was so entrenched in why women commit acts of crime,” Alloway said, adding that she was disappointed to find that revenge films on the subject still often revolved around men.

Picking up Houghton’s script, the director recalls feeling relieved. “Oh, this is just about women,” she says, her face brightening. “This is about women friendships, women being pitted against each other.”

In an early meeting with Houghton, Alloway told the playwright she’d like to bring a genre lens to “turn up the dial on the emotions that you feel reading the play and make them accessible to people who haven’t had these experiences — or validate people who have.”

Outside of the opportunity to work with so many other young women, Pedretti said she was drawn to “Forbidden Fruits” because of its use of style and tone.

“It asks a lot of people to try to step into a world like this one,” the actor says of the unabashedly histrionic screenplay. “And as nerve-racking as it may be to take that big swing, you gotta take the big swing.”

“She has that fragility,” says producer Diablo Cody of Pedretti. “She has that humor. She has that sexuality. She has all of it.”

(Evelyn Freja / For The Times)

And swing she does: Pedretti plays up Cherry’s emotional volatility, giving her a full-bodied form of expression. The actor even did her own onscreen makeup (as did Reinhart) and collaborated heavily with costume designer Sarah Millman on Cherry’s wardrobe and styling. Plus, she performed her first topless scene — in a sequence that doesn’t involve men or even sex.

“I’m really proud of the way we use nudity to show a certain kind of unspoken comfortability among women,” she continues. “I remember always getting such a thrill at the comfort level of a girl being like, ‘We’re going to the bathroom together,’ and to me, that is that moment.”

It’s a perfect example of a scene that doesn’t try to speak to anyone except those it’s specifically written for, and one that you only get with women at the helm of a production.

Reflecting on the agency she had to shape Cherry, Pedretti says she is more inspired to explore directorial projects of her own.

“I am so interested in protecting these spaces to be positive, creative experiences for everyone involved,” she says.

Whenever Pedretti does make her feature debut behind the camera (she’s already made a short or two), perhaps Cody will pick up the phone.

SORRY ladies, there is only room for one Mrs Beckham.

Over the past year, queen bee Victoria has seen son Brooklyn and his wife Nicola go all out to prove they have no wish or need to be part of the Beckham family brand.

Instead, they have made moves to cement themselves as a rival power couple with global appeal.

In January’s now infamous Instagram rant aimed at his parents, Brooklyn said of his wedding: “My mum hijacked my first dance with my wife, which had been planned weeks in advance.”

Conjuring an image that has been lampooned across the internet ­endlessly, he added: “She danced very inappropriately on me in front of everyone. I’ve never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated in my entire life.”

But considering how much they claim to want to detach themselves from Brooklyn’s famous mum, it’s Nicola’s appearance that has us all doing a double-take.

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By all accounts, she seems to be morphing into a Victoria avatar.

Both women have posed for pics in slinky catsuits.

And on Monday, Nicola shared a topless mirror selfie wearing just a pair of tights while prepping for her upcoming ballerina film Prima — instantly sparking comparisons yet again with her equally slender mother-in-law.

Is it just an uncanny coincidence?

Or is this the US-born 31-year-old’s ­declaration that — though there might be one Mrs Beckham — Mrs Peltz-Beckham has real girl power and is ready to steal the spotlight?

The proof, of course, is in the pouting.

A true copycat

IT’S not just Vic’s red carpet outfits and off-duty dressing that Nicola likes to imitate.

In fact, she looks to her mother-in-law when it comes to fancy dress too.

And she’s took posh appearance in it as a PVC catsuit clad Catwoman for a 2018 Vogue shoot his inspiration for her own sexy feline cosplay.

They say immitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But when it comes to Nic versus Vic, the claws are out.

Met their match

FORGET Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake in double denim.

When it comes to twinning nobody did it better than Victoria and David Beckham, who used every photo call in the nineties to share a matching moment.

The double shiny leather to those famous purple wedding day numbers the pair made history.

Nicola and Brooklyn have duly tried to take the mantle, posing in matching pyjamas, Burberry and tuxes.

But they’re double trouble antiques seems somewhat amateur in comparison.

Our advice? More pleather!

Oh, jacket in

NICOLA was once keen to show she had earned her stripes as part of Clan Beckham – channelling Victoria’s vintage Dolce & Gabbana biker jacket.

She was seen wearing the statement piece on a 2024 trip to Paris for Fashion Week – more than two decades after Posh Spice Vic teamed it with chequerboard jeans and a pair of tinted aviators to watch

Manchester United be crowned Premier League Champions in 2001.

Now I’m the mane attraction

ONCE a committed blonde, Nicola made a bold statement when she ditched the bleach in 2022.

Before then, her golden locks were a trademark, drawing comparisons to her own mother, ex-model Claudia Peltz.

But after giving the colour one last hurrah at her wedding in May that year, Nicola embraced her “wifey” era with a brand-new barnet suspiciously like Vic’s brunette, mid-length do.

Dyeing for attention, maybe?

Pipped at the post

WHEN it comes to getting sentimental online, Victoria is a pro.

She often uses Instagram to declare her love for her brood.

In fact, she even did it yesterday to wish Brooklyn a happy birthday, telling him: “I love you so much” – despite the fact her estranged son had blocked his whole family on the site and requested his parents do not interact with him or tag him in posts.

Naturally, Nicola is just as effusive, regularly writing, “I love you baby” and uploading smoochy snaps to her own social media – letting Brooklyn, and the world, know that she can get soppy, too.

A pattern’s emerging here

IF Victoria airs her love on Instagram, David does it on his body.

He has famously tattooed it inch by inch to create a tapestry of tributes to his family, including the words “Posh” and “Victoria”, which are emblazoned on his hands.

Not one to be outdone, Brooklyn is following suit, decking out his body with tattooed tributes to Nicola – and he even has an image of her eyes inked on his neck.

Staring out from behind him, they firmly tell the world: “I’m the only Mrs Beckham that matters”.

I don’t give a ship

LOUNGING on the back of her £16million family yacht with loved ones is among Victoria’s favourite pastimes.

And for a while, Nicola would have happily soaked up the sun beside her as they sailed the Mediterranean.

But since the family schism, Brooklyn and Nicola have been holidaying sans Beckhams – instead, joining Nic’s family last summer on their much bigger superyacht in the south of France.

Yes, they pushed the boat out – leaving choppy waters in their wake.

They’ll make them see red

THERE is nothing Victoria and David love more than a romantic dinner together.

The couple often share snapshots from special anniversaries as they clink glasses next to a super-expensive bottle of wine.

So it is no surprise that Nicola and Brooklyn have added that to the list of “things we can do, too” – recently sharing a stream of photos from their loved-up date nights, each with a glass of pricey red in hand.

They really are sips off the old block.

You’ve got a lot of front

VICTORIA has graced the front page of hundreds of fancy magazines over the years – posing for in excess of 30 international Vogue covers, in addition to the likes of Elle, Glamour and Harper’s Bazaar.

Still, Nicola is clipping at her heels, having graced the cover of Glamour Germany’s Love Issue last year alongside Brooklyn.

She even nabbed her own solo cover for Tatler in 2022, which bore the controversial headline, “The New Mrs Beckham”.

Ouch!