I’ve been on a documentary kick lately.

You know the phase. You convince yourself you’re being educational, cultured, and deeply thoughtful, when really you’re just binge-watching other people’s lives while eating snacks.

So naturally, I tried the Victoria Beckham three-part series on Netflix. And listen. I wanted to like it. I tried. But I was bored. Not just mildly bored. Spiritually bored.

Victoria is polished. Controlled. Regimented. Every hair in formation. Every sentence curated. Which is impressive, but also not exactly riveting television. It felt less like a documentary and more like watching a very expensive brand meeting.

Maybe if they’d included the real family warts such as Brooklyn Beckham’s wedding it might’ve had more texture. More humanity. More mess. Because mess is where the insight lives.

What did grab me, though, was something Victoria once said about the period when there were allegations that David Beckham cheated on her:

> “It was an absolute circus — and everyone loves it when the circus comes to town, right? Unless you’re in it.”

Now that is interesting.

Because it’s true. People love the circus.

They love drama. They love spectacle. They love a public unraveling they can observe safely from their couches. They grab popcorn. They pick sides. They analyze facial expressions. They forward articles with wide eyes and captions like, Did you see this??

The circus comes to town and suddenly everyone’s got a front-row seat.  But here’s the psychological twist. Drama is not a passive sport.

Drama begets drama.

A circus never stays contained to one tent. It expands. It pulls people in. It invites commentary, judgment, alliances, and outrage. Before you know it, spectators become participants. Observers get tangled in the ropes. Everyone’s somehow involved.

And then they’re surprised when it’s no longer fun. Because once you’re in the net, it stops being entertainment. It becomes emotional labor.

I think that’s what fascinated me about Victoria’s quote. Not the celebrity part but the universal part. The way humans are wired to seek spectacle but underestimate the cost of proximity to chaos.

We love watching fires.

We just don’t love getting burned.

If someone were ever to do a documentary about me (which, let’s be honest, would require multiple seasons and a very patient editor), I wouldn’t start with the polished highlights.

I’d start with that.

With the chaos people try to create. The unnecessary drama. The manufactured crises. The way some folks toss matches and then act shocked when things get smoky. I’d start with how inevitably, the people who stir the pot end up falling into it. Because that’s the part worth studying.

How adults recreate playground dynamics. How rumors multiply. How conflict spreads like glitter  being that it is impossible to fully clean up once it’s released. How some people mistake stirring for power, noise for influence, and chaos for relevance.

And how, eventually, everyone learns that if you keep visiting the circus, don’t be surprised when you’re asked to join the act.

So yes, the Victoria Beckham documentary didn’t hold my attention.

But that one line did. And, it wasn’t even from that documentary.

Everyone loves the circus when it comes to town. Until they’re the ones under the big top, balancing on emotional tightropes, wondering how they got there.

My professional advice?

Watch the circus if you must.

Just don’t buy a season pass.

And whatever you do don’t climb into the ring.