‘Being a David Beckham lookalike nearly destroyed me’

People started telling me I looked like the Manchester United and England midfielder when I was 18 years old and cleaning cars at a car wash in Eastbourne. A hairdresser friend, who loved him, told me excitedly that David Beckham had dyed his hair blonde and she dyed mine. When I looked in the mirror, I could see I looked like him. I had the same smile, even his mannerisms. But it was more than just looking like him; I even had his traits. I had played football in the same position as Beckham for Eastbourne United.

So I sent my photos to a well-known lookalike agency — and started getting bookings to parties and events, even kids’ parties. I became a full-time David Beckham lookalike in 1988 and it was all-consuming for 20 years. Early on, I met a girl called Camila who’d come to a local fashion show that I was modelling in, and she came up to me and said: “Quite a few people say I look like Victoria.” I didn’t see it straight away because her hair was long, but when we met again a few days later, and started dating, I noticed her resemblance was striking.

When a lookalikes agency asked if I knew of a “Victoria” as they didn’t have one, Camila joined it — and cut her hair. We went to open a nightclub in Glasgow and ended up on the front page of the Daily Star as “Posh and Becks” – then everybody booked us. When Beckham got sent off following a red card in the 1998 World Cup match against Argentina, and he faced an intense public backlash, including the burning of effigies in his likeness, we got death threats and flak from people.

Once he turned it around and became the most popular guy again, it all changed for the better for us. The pinnacle of my career was when he became captain of the England team. Sometimes during World Cups I could do three jobs in a day. I’d be earning up to £75,000 a year — which is a lot more than most lookalikes even today. It was relentless.

I was about five years into the job and I was looking more like him as I aged. His wardrobe was taking over my wardrobe: Adidas, fake designer suits, football kits. My lookalike career happened just after a series of deaths: my mum, my gran and a friend. I thought I was just enjoying myself, but I was drinking to forget and being a Beckham lookalike nearly destroyed me because it blocked out the pain. I had lost touch with myself — and was avoiding my feelings by being caught up pretending to be somebody else. It had taken over my life.

During the 2008 recession my work dried up a bit and I busked in Brighton with a sign saying “Busk It like Beckham” — and made a lot of cash, before bookings started flooding in again fast. But the drinking got worse — and I found it hard keeping in shape like Beckham. When I’d drink too much, I’d gain weight — and I’d go to the gym, cut out carbs.

As Beckham was coming to the end of his football career, so was mine as a lookalike. I felt a massive loss. What am I going to do without Beckham? I was 36. I was going to have to be a part-time lookalike and get another job. I’d appeared in Britain’s Got Talent in 2010 as part of an act known as The Chippendoubles, when I did a football trick to the music of Match of the Day as Beckham – and this prompted me to start my own lookalikes agency in 2015.

But as I gave up Beckham, I became an at-home drinker — and it took over. I was isolated and gained so much weight that I didn’t look like him any more. I spiralled out of control. I wasn’t in a good space or healthy. I was really abusive to myself and addicted. When I'd met Beckham on a Pepsi commercial in 2001, he shook my hand. I was a bit starstruck, I talked about him the whole time and dressed like him, but didn’t know what to say to him. Then it all ended with me coming back to earth with a bang.

There were a lot of issues I’d put on the backburner to be Beckham. It allowed me to put all my grief in a box for 20 years. I quit drinking two years ago and survived a heart attack last year, at eight months sober, which I put down to my party lifestyle. I don’t ever look for him when I look in the mirror these days. It is nice to have my own haircut — rather than his look dictating my look, and wearing what I want to wear in my style. I’ve found my feet — and the simple truth is, I prefer being Andy Harmer.