CAMILLA Eldridge, 42, lives in East Sussex with her husband Ben, 40, a PE teacher, and her children Brandon, 21, and Bella, 13. 

“Walking through the department store in Tokyo, I could feel all eyes on us.

Then the whispering started: ‘It’s them – it’s Victoria and David Beckham!’

Within minutes, hundreds of people were screaming and shoving their cameras in mine and my friend Andy’s faces.

It was so overwhelming, I started to panic – how were we going to get out of there?

Then a shop manager ushered us into a back room until the crowd eventually dispersed.

They didn’t realise I wasn’t the real VB – I was just an ordinary 20 year old from East Sussex who worked as her lookalike. 

I’d always been a fan of the Spice Girls, and Victoria especially, so I was flattered when my classmates at secondary school said I looked like her.

When I was 18, I dated a guy called Andy Harmer, who happened to look like David Beckham, and people remarked on the resemblance.

We decided to capitalise on it, and in 1997 we signed up to a lookalike agency, doing guest appearances at VIP nightclubs and photo shoots for magazines and newspapers.

Andy and I broke up a year later, but remained good friends and carried on impersonating the Beckhams. 

In 2001, I was Victoria’s body double in a Walkers Crisps ad, earning around £500.

I was so nervous and excited, because the real VB was there too, and I got to meet her for the first time.

I had my baby son Brandon with me and she made a fuss of him, telling me she loved his name.

She was so warm and even prettier in real life. 

Over the next decade, Andy and I travelled the world as Posh and Becks, visiting 30 countries, including Japan in 2003, where we were mobbed in the department store, and snapped by renowned lookalike photographer Alison Jackson. 

In early 2007, we were hired by the production company behind Sky1’s documentary The Beckhams Go To Hollywood to visit Los Angeles to see how the public would react to the famous pair.

Like in Tokyo, we were mobbed wherever we went.

We were ushered into the VIP area of a nightclub, test-drove a Lamborghini and the owner of a fancy shop tried to give me a black pearl necklace worth £9,000, which I refused.

But there was also a dark side.

The paparazzi relentlessly chased us, dangerously overtaking traffic and shouting at us, which was very intimidating.

Later that year, I got to meet Victoria again when I starred as her double in a Tesco advert, wiggling my bum to the camera.

She and the other Spice Girls were all lovely, and seeing the ad on TV was another pinch-me moment. 

Of course, it took a lot of work to look like Posh.

I had to copy every style evolution, including her hair, make-up, clothes and poses, making sure every detail was just so.

Luckily, I am naturally thin, so I didn’t have to work too hard to maintain her slim figure. 

I stopped being her lookalike in 2011, when work began to dry up.

The same year, I gave birth to my daughter Bella, with my husband Ben, who I’d met in 2005.

I also retrained as a nursery practitioner – a job I love. 

Watching last year’s Netflix hit Beckham, I thought how well the couple had handled the furore following David’s red card in the 1998 World Cup.

Back then, I received death threats and Andy’s car was set on fire, which was crazy.

It also made me remember the time I met Rebecca Loos on a German chat show in 2004.

I put her in her place backstage and she was speechless.

Looking back, I can’t believe I got to be Posh Spice for all those years.

I’d never have had the same opportunities with an ordinary job.

Now, my life is much less glamorous, but I wouldn’t change a thing.

Some people still say I look like her, which is flattering and, although I have no plans to return to my old career, I still enjoy making the occasional appearance as Posh.

It’s hard to believe Victoria is turning 50 – she still looks fabulous.

I’ll be thinking about her on her special day, remembering when I had a taste of what it was like to be one of the most famous women in the world.”