Posh Spice tops celebrities in print poll

Posh Spice Victoria Beckham was the most written-about celebrity of 2002 even though she took a year off from her career, according to a survey today.

Kidnap threats, the birth of her new son Romeo and World Cup parties were just some of the stories that kept Mrs Beckham in the headlines.

The survey was published by the magazine Now, which counted the number of times celebrities appeared in its publication last year.

A spokeswoman for the magazine said: “It’s been a year of ups and downs for Victoria, who featured no less than 90 times in the magazine. We’ve seen her ditched by her record label, named as the ’best dressed celebrity’, make maternity wear fashionable and give birth to her surprisingly named son Romeo."

The spokeswoman added that although Posh Spice was "still hot", her England captain husband David Beckham was battling against some new faces.

She said: "A year ago we didn’t even know who Gareth Gates and Will Young were and now they have stolen the limelight from the likes of David Beckham, Robbie Williams and Tom Cruise as the most mentioned stars in Now in 2002."

The women who appeared in the magazine most last year were Victoria Beckham (90), Jennifer Lopez (88), Britney Spears (87), Kylie Minogue (87) and Geri Halliwell (67). For the men it was Gareth Gates (60), Will Young (54), David Beckham (49), Robbie Williams (37) and Tom Cruise (32).