Only a few months ago I first met Victoria Beckham, just before the release of her debut solo album. She was incredibly buoyant, with a tough little body and hilariously self-deprecating wit. She had the kind of resilience I thought could never be chipped. Victoria's the one who protected her husband when he was demonized as the spoilt boy who tossed away England's world cup chances. She's the one who didn't need protecting because she was so in love. She's the one who could send herself up before anyone else got the chance to. She'd laugh at the Beckingham palace website with its crested toilets, just like she laughed at her purple thrones on her wedding day. She created a cartoon version of herself, the conspicuous consumer, the fabulously naff fashion icon. It was all a cover for an extremely shy, self-conscious girl. I think the world could be divided into two halves: yoga or non-yoga: G-string or bikini, steamed organic fish or chips. You either get 'posh' or you don't. These days, its an increasing minority that get her, and most of the nation just seems to want to get at her. She looks a little exhausted with this. Her first single went Top 10, but was deemed a failure, so how does that make her feel?

"It irritates me. Just because I'm a celebrity doesn't mean I'll automatically sell shit-loads of records. The record came out and all this negative press surrounded me - nothing about the music."

It seems the cartoon she created to protect herself threatened to destroy her.

"I worked hard on it, and thought, 'If they don't like this, then its not about the music, its about the public perception of me. So I cant take it personally."

In a way its hard not to. On an average morning she turns on the TV to find herself voted 'Woman with the Worst Skin in the World'. Her complexions always troubled her; she got bullied for it at school. Then she'll open a paper and find herself the subject of a whole raft of ridiculous rumours. I ask if she'll answer back to some of the most ludicrous.

"Happily"

she replies. You insisted the lake in Windsor was heated for the video of your new single, A Mind Of It's Own, or you wouldn't get in it.

"As if you could heat up a lake. Even I know that's not possible. There's a lake in the video, I walk past it, but that's as near as I get."

You sang, "Who let the dogs out?" when Jordan entered the players' room.

"I didn't. But if I'd thought about it (at the time) I would have…"

You brought David falcon lessons as a birthday present.

"Nope. He's scared of birds - even little ones - when they flap. I'm the nearest to a bird David's ever been."

You and the Spices don't speak.

"I spoke to Mel B the other day - we were supposed to have fallen out. I spoke to Emma a month ago. I haven't spoken to Mel C for a while as she's in Liverpool. There's no big fallout. It's like when you're at school, you're with your friends all the time. Then in the summer holiday, you spend time with your other friends. It doesn't mean you're never going to talk to them again."

That you and Geri may reunite? She starts to say,

"The whole thing about me and Geri having a problem with each other is out of proportion."

But then she adds,

"I've heard that on video shoots she bans my name being mentioned."

Another top rumour is that she and David are appearing as models in Marks & Spencer advertising campaign.

"I think that was made up, just like we're supposed to love Liebfraumilch. I'm not a wine snob - Lambrusco's cool - but I've never actually drunk Liebfraumilch."

She doesn't like the public Victoria Beckham because it isn't her, yet everyone' convinced it is.

"I used to watch comedians like Alistair McGowan and think, 'Oh, he's funny,' Half of me can still laugh at how they send us up, but the other half thinks, 'Perhaps people think we're like that.'"

No one knows better than Victoria that public opinion can swell into a mass consciousness of hatred, then glorification the next day. She's seen it with David: once the whipping boy, now national hero.

"It was different for David, After the World Cup, he kept his head down, worked on his football and proved himself on the pitch. There's a right and a wrong in football - you're either good or you're not - whereas music is about personal taste. I'd love to say, 'I'll show them all and write a fantastic song.' I used to believe that was enough, but it's not. I put so much work into that first single, maybe people can sense that. I wasn't desperate, but…"

You mean the public smelled your desperation?

"Maybe."

Victoria comforts herself that the public is fickle. She won't be taunted by the fact that Kylie beat her to the No1 spot.

"I'm not jealous of her. There was a time when she got dropped from her label. She's an inspiration because she's proof you can hit rock bottom and come up again, like David. "What worries me is that I've been in the public eye for five years and am overexposed." Its also means the public think she's immune to criticism. "Sometimes I ask myself, 'What am I doing that's so offensive to everybody? I'm working hard, bringing up a baby, while a lot of the time I'm separated from my husband. I'm not getting pissed or having affairs.'"

It goes without saying that David's been a rock, protecting her - just as she could have kicked those who criticized him.

"David's been great. The whole thing frustrates him, too."

Perhaps it's because they don't see that much of each other (she's promoting, he's in training), that their relationship is both passionate and cosy. Does David fancy her with or without make-up most?

"Without, of course."

Who else does he find attractive?

"He thinks Julia Roberts is good looking, but he says genuinely, 'There's no one I find as attractive as you.' It's not all about looks, is it? Especially when you're married to somebody and have a baby. I look at him and think he's really good looking, but it does go beyond that."

Do you fancy anyone apart from David?

"No, I don't. If you were with David, would you fancy anybody else?"

she says with absolute security and contentment. From the moment they met they matched with each other. He was local, he was global: she was ordinary and extraordinary. And yes it was one of those ker-ching! moments. A lot of people see their relationship as a caricature, with her always bossing him about. What qualities does David have that balance you out and vice versa?

"David's calm and doesn't get stressed, whereas I'm a stress-head. David doesn't look at price tags and I do."

But you suspect this secure, cosy world has a more fragile boundary. There's a profound air of loneliness about Victoria that makes you want to first go up and give her a hug, and then rack your brains for people you know who'd appreciate her - matchmake her with some good girlfriends.

"I do get on with lots of the players' wives in the team. They're not all bleached hair and miniskirts. Jordan is, but the rest of us aren't."

There's part of her that's very ordinary, and that's what makes her both so accessible and such a target, as well as hugely fascinating. People think, 'If she can have it, why can't I?' But as much as part of her loves attention, another part of her is extremely self-conscious. While she's very grateful to her fans, she says she sometimes feels unworthy.

"I felt more worthy of my fame when I had my single out. I thought, 'Here are people asking for my autograph. I feel like I'm a musician, not someone who's got a famous footballer husband and a celebrity baby.' It's ridiculous really, after selling 40 million records (with the Spice Girls), but I still wonder why people are interested. Is it just because I wear designer clothes and was once with four other girls?"

Another thing she's criticized for is her weight, and she wrote in her book, Learning to Fly, that at one point she went on radical diets of frozen peas. I ask her if she still has food/body issues?

"I've got to the stage now where I eat. When I was younger I went on diets. I tried Slim-Fast, stopped putting sauces on my food and then realised I wanted to be a normal person and enjoy my dinner. I'm careful about what I eat because of my skin: I'm allergic to dairy and wheat and I'm not meant to have sugar, which means no fruit, but I eat tons of it. "I remember the day I found out I was pregnant; for the first time in ages I ordered up a huge dinner: Dover sole, vegetables and bread. I thought, ' This is the end of fad diets.' You think, 'I'm going to get fat, but I'm fat because I've got a baby inside me', and it didn't bother me. I adored being pregnant."

Are you going to get pregnant again soon?

"I'm not planning it, but you never know. I don't see David much at the moment. The timing wouldn't be great, but nowadays, just because you're pregnant doesn't mean you have to stop what you're doing. I know I definitely want another baby at some point in the future. "Last night, me and Brooklyn were sitting by the fire and he said, 'Mummy, cuddle me.' When people say I'm devastated because I only had a No6 record, I think, 'That's not devastating. If something was wrong with Brooklyn, that would be devastating."

There are two distinct Victorias: the one in the baseball cap and tracksuit that hides, and the cartoon Victoria that poses. The real Victoria takes five minutes to get ready in the morning: cartoon Victoria can take hours. And you do wonder when the two might crash into each other. She says she'll never do a photo shoot with her clothes hanging off. Why? Because she hates her body or because she thinks it's immoral?

"I don't particularly love my body. But who does? But I wouldn't want my dad to see me doing it and David wouldn't like it. How could I class myself as a musician if I did?"

Do you think David would be jealous?

"David does get jealous."

And you, Victoria?

"Do you know what I can't bear? I read in the papers that some girls from EastEnders, Tamzin something, said 'I'd love a night with David Beckham.' Firstly, I wouldn't say that about a married man, and second, as if, love; thirdly, let me at her! I think it's very disrespectful."

You can feel invisible fists flying.

"There was another magazine that said Janet Jackson liked David. I said, 'To be fair, babe, if Janet asked you out, I'd make you go, because it's Janet and I'm such a fan.' But I might have to say, 'Can I come?' If it's Janet it's flattering. When it's whatsername, you think, 'Get a life.'"

If she found out David was having an affair, what would she do? Her face crumples:

"I'd die of a broken heart."

Although she's capable of the dramatic gesture, she's equally capable of the ridiculously funny. Do you think David is the best sex you've ever had?

"Nah."

Splutters of laughter. And with that her mobile phone rings with the tune Not Such An Innocent Girl. She gives me one of those massive, toothy grins that were so rarely 'Posh' but which totally sum up Victoria Beckham.