David gave a passionate speech on behalf of UNICEF at the United Nations in New York and it forced him to choke back tears.
The UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador was speaking at the launch of Voices of Youth, when he told a story about the tragic death of a little girl in the Philippines.
The former soccer player was visibly emotional as he revealed that the tragic story “really affected” him and he added: “that story will never leave me.”
He met the family of the little girl on a trip to the Island nation after a typhoon had killed 6,300 people.
“On the night the typhoon hit the family were on their roof trying to protect themselves. The mother, tired, scared, exhausted, said to the father, can you please take Viana, so the father did,” he said.
“He has Venus and Viana in his arms. Unfortunately the father was knocked off the roof by one of the waves.
David Beckham has been working with UNICEF fro 10 years.
“He woke up six hours later holding [only] one of the girls,” a visibly distressed David explained.
“This was the night of the typhoon. A day and a half later unfortunately Viana was found face down and unfortunately she had died. This was one of the most devastating stories I heard,” the dad-of-four told the crowd.
The 40-year-old has been the ambassador for UNNCEF for 10 years and his appointment to the role is one of his “proudest” achievements.
He poignantly said in his empowering speech, “I want a world where children can grow up safe from war, violence, poverty and preventable disease – don’t you?”
Watch David’s heartfelt speech in the player above
