Jackie Apostel, the girlfriend of Cruz Beckham, has marked two years since undergoing major spinal surgery with a candid Instagram post encouraging others to embrace their scars rather than hide them.
The Brazilian singer-songwriter, 30, lives with scoliosis, a condition in which the spine curves and twists, and underwent an extensive spinal fusion operation to stabilise her back. Posting on Saturday, she turned with her back to the camera to reveal the scar two years on, wearing a pair of Good American high-waisted jeans with her hair swept into a chignon. “Your scars are sexy,” she wrote alongside the image, adding in her caption: “2 years ago today I had my full spinal fusion. never ever felt better and we love a cute scar. just a lil wear & tear.”
Spinal fusion involves joining two or more vertebrae together to reduce pain, correct structural problems and improve stability in the spine. During the procedure, a surgeon inserts a bone graft — taken from the patient’s own body, a donor, or a synthetic material — into the space between the affected vertebrae to limit excessive movement, often reinforcing the area further with screws and rods. In the UK, the NHS funds the procedure only for patients who meet specific clinical criteria, and it is used to treat conditions including scoliosis, spondylolisthesis, spinal instability, fractures, tumours and chronic back pain that has not responded to other treatments.
Apostel shared her latest update while in Miami with the Beckham family, having been seen at the Inter Miami stadium on Friday evening alongside Victoria, David, Cruz, 21, and Romeo Beckham. She has been dating Cruz since around the middle of 2024 and has since become a regular presence at family milestones, including trips to support Victoria at Paris Fashion Week and to watch David at the opening of Inter Miami’s new stadium earlier this year.
This is not the first time Apostel has spoken openly about her recovery. Marking the surgery’s first anniversary last year, she described going into the operation with little fear, only to find the following fortnight “absolute hell.” She said she had been determined to return to the recording studio within a month, and did so after 25 days, crediting the people around her for helping her through the ordeal. “I would have never ever made it through those 2 weeks if I wasn’t surrounded by so much support and love,” she wrote at the time, adding that the hardest part of her recovery had been mental rather than physical, as post-operative medication had left her feeling unusually anxious and sensitive. She said she still had days where her body felt “weird,” and joked that while she could no longer manage long nights in high heels, she had otherwise learned to live comfortably with the changes to her body.
