Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer’s wife reveals how David Beckham helped rescue their marriage

Johnny Mercer’s wife has revealed how David Beckham helped to rescue her marriage when he dedicated an award to the Armed Forces serving in Afghanistan.

The MP, a former Commando, did three tours in Afghanistan, including a stint with the Special Forces, before entering politics.

His wife Felicity has now told how his personality changed after he saw a colleague, called Mark, killed, and the couple went from having a strong marriage to struggling to communicate.

However, after hearing Beckham’s speech at the 2010 Sports Personality of the Year awards, Mr Mercer – who is Veterans Minister – burst into tears and was able to open up about his wartime experiences for the first time.

Meeting Beckham later, Felicity thanked the former England footballer, who she said was ‘chuffed’ to hear what he had done.

‘I did manage to tell David that story without crying,’ she added.

‘He was chuffed to bits. The gesture that he’d done, he may never have heard back from anyone about that, and I wanted him to know from us that it had a profound effect. Just that simple gesture of what he did on stage, suddenly changed everything.

‘We won’t have been the only ones. It would have meant so much to so many people.’

The 42-year-old revealed how she was already struggling with the family’s move to Plymouth when her husband, now 41, returned from Afghanistan in 2010. ‘Looking back, Johnny was one of the lucky ones – he’d always been on top of his mental health because he’d had problems when he was a boy,’ she said. ‘But he’d had a particularly bad tour.

‘We’d always been a very close couple, very intimate, and he just needed all this space. He needed to just process. And of course I did that typically spousey thing of thinking, “Oh my gosh, is it me, what have I done wrong, why doesn’t he want to be with me?”

‘I let that paranoia creep in. For a good year, when he got back, it was a rollercoaster.’

The breakthrough came when the couple watched Beckham dedicate his Lifetime Achievement Award to those serving in Afghanistan at the 2010 BBC ceremony.

Winner of the Lifetime Achievement award, David Beckham during the BBC Sport Personality of the Year Awards at the LG Arena, Birmingham, in 2010 

‘Beckham stood on that stage and he said something wonderful,’ Felicity, who has three children with Mr Mercer, revealed.

‘He said, “I’m going to dedicate this to all the troops in Afghanistan and anyone that’s been out there and everyone serving”. We were watching this on telly and – it makes me quite emotional now – Johnny burst into tears. He’s a lifelong Man U fan – David was like one of his heroes. He burst into tears and then just started talking. It all came out.

‘Mark was one of his soldiers who was killed, shot next to him. It was so traumatic and Johnny had to sit in the back of one of the Land Rovers with Mark’s body for about 45 minutes taking him back to base.

‘Suddenly we were talking again, intimate again, and we were together again.’

Mr Mercer retired from military service in 2013 and became the MP for Plymouth Moor View in 2015.