spanx are a secret weapon adored by millions of women. how a modern take on the girdle built this woman a billion dollar empire. and end it like beckham. after six years of bending it on this side of the pond, british soccer star david beckham is leaving the l.a. galaxy. tonight, he reflects on his family, his career and what's next. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," november 29th, 2012. >> good evening, i'm terry moran. well, tonight, an important investigation raising controversial questions about how far is too far when it comes to physical discipline and control in schools? for most kids, the worst they've got to fear from unruly behavior in class is a trip to the principal's office. but in some schools, students are receiving far more severe

treatment, like being locked in windowless cells or stuffed into bags. now, some of the footage you're about to see is not easy to watch. here's abc's brian ross with a "nightline" investigates. >> reporter: this surveillance video shows a high school student by the name on andre mccollins, in the lower right of the screen, about to go through what his school calls skin shock therapy for misbehavior. about 60 volts of therapy. there are no national standards for the punishments or restraints used on school children, including those like andre, with severe behavioral difficulty. >> i can't believe they call themselves humans and do such a thing to someone who is sew vulnerable. >> reporter: it is an extreme example, but perfectly legal. an abc news investigation found that only 17 states have specific laws that protect students from harsh, some say barbaric methods of restraint and other techniques. >> some day, we're all -- i think we're all going to look

back, we're going to say, "can you believe what we did here?" >> why are they red marks all over him? >> reporter: in dallas, this video was made by a mother of a 4-year-old, as he tried get a staff member to let go of her boy. in kentucky, a mother found her autistic 8-year-old son had been stuffed into a duffle back like this one, specially made to restrain children. and schools across the country are investing in specially built seclusion rooms, like this one, where young students can be locked up for hours. >> they'd lock you in there and it was dock. there's no windows. you are just stuck in there for the whole day. >> reporter: at the age of 11, giordanos all too well what can happen. >> it's scary. really scary. even for the bravest person in the world, it's still really scary. >> reporter: now, some members of congress are trying to get such techniques prohibited or

restricted by federal law. >> there are thousands of children that have been traumatized, they have been injured. >> reporter: but it's opposed as too restrictive by school administrators. they say they need a range of techniques to deal with autistic stude students and others that are being main streamed into public schools. >> they tend to act out. and when they do act out, sometimes they become a danger to themselves or dangers to others. >> reporter: this man agreed some of the techniques being used, including the electric shock seen on the tape are, indeed, too much. >> they're horrendous. it makes me sick. >> reporter: he admitted some teachers do need more training. but he defended the use of some of the restraints others call barbaric, including the seclusion or scream rooms. >> if the situation warrants it, in order to protect the child from hurting himself -- >> reporter: you don't think that's barbaric?

>> then i'm a barbarian. >> reporter: but all too often, students have died after being restrained. the most recent, 16-year-old corey foster, of new york city. a surveillance tape showed the young man at a residential school for students with special needs as he apparently refused to stop playing basketball. teachers and staff surround him. >> one, two, three, four, five. >> reporter: and then, says his mother, sheila foster, they forced him to the ground. and now he's down. >> pulling him down, yeah. >> reporter: the school says its staff used what they call a correctly performed and state approved therapeutic hold. and only after other deescalation techniques failed with corey. >> there was nothing therapeutic about that. >> reporter: a short time later, corey foster was dead. the medical examiner ruled it an accident, that corey died of cardiac arrest while being subdued. >> just looking at these pictures, knowing that i won't

feel him hug me anymore, say, "i love you mommy." yes. it's hard. >> reporter: the centennial school in bethlehem, pennsylvania, says there is an alternative to the physical, hands on approach used in so many schools. here, there are no seclusion rooms. and teachers almost never use any restraint, even though the students here all have a history of trouble or violence at other schools. >> but that isn't fair! >> reporter: we watched as one student, 9-year-old vinny, started acting up in the classroom. the teacher separated him from the others but never put a hand on vinny. >> we walked away. we reminded him to use a calm body and polite words. >> reporter: and that worked? >> it did. it may take awhile but it is better than putting my hands on him. >> reporter: that's the philosophy that the school's director would like to see spread across the country. so, you doubt think these restraints, these seclusion rooms, you don't think they work? >> i do not. i think they contribute to the problem.

>> reporter: how so? >> they make children angrier. they make children resentful. they make children want to engage in more aggression, to get even. to get back. >> reporter: and we heard just that from six of the centennial students, including jordan. >> you felt scared and upset and you were already angry. >> reporter: they described how they said they were dealt with at previous schools. >> they cross your arms and they hold you like that. >> they had this really big man that pinned me to the ground. >> they would just literally just lay on top of you and you would just be laying there, can't move. it was really hard to breathe. >> reporter: do you think that kind of thing works? is that -- >> no. >> no. >> no. >> makes it worse. >> reporter: makes it worse? >> it makes things worse because that's how i get angry and then i feel like bursting into flames. >> it isn't a very good thing to be restrained, as all.

>> i think sometimes when you get upset it is always nice to get, like, a good hug or something. >> reporter: but for now, what happens at this school is the exception, not the rule. for "nightline," brian ross, abc news. >> our children. thanks to brian ross for that important investigation. well, just ahead, we're going to turnpage. hollywood stars love them. millions of women swear by them. and it all thanks to one bright idea. you're going to meet the self-made billionaire behind spanx. okay, now here's our holiday gift list. aww, not the mall. well, i'll do the shopping... if you do the shipping. shipping's a hassle. i'll go to the mall. hey. hi. y'know, holiday shipping's easy with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. yeah, i know. oh, you're good. [ laughing ] good luck!

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with terry moran. >> well, the same way wonder bras dominated the '90s, the wildly popular spanx shape ware

will go down in history as the iconic underthing of this decade. what started as a simple idea, a fresh take on the old girdle has now exploded into a billion dollar empire. and the brains of the operation? you may know her as the youngest woman ever to grace the forbes billionaire list. here's abc's juju chang. >> red carpet secret? >> spanx. >> spanx. >> spanx. >> reporter: it's the not so secret secret to looking slim and trim. >> you have got to wear spanx. >> love them. >> reporter: that must-have undergarment. >> spanx. >> reporter: celebrities can't stop blabbing about. >> spanx. >> best invention ever made. >> reporter: that word of mouth has paid off. spanx now sucks in 250 million dollars in annual sales. with not one penny of advertising. >> i think the magnitude of all of it only hits me in moments. >> reporter: the woman behind all those shapely behinds, sara

blakely, the inventor and founder of spanx. >> it's hard for me to absorb. like, that's a product i created, you know? i created that. >> reporter: spanx is now to shape ware what kleenex is to tissue. a billion dollar household name. what >> what we hear the most from e-mails and phone calls is confidence. i feel confidence that i don't have normally. just -- it's a really great feeling. >> reporter: now, she's looking to take that great feeling to a one-stop shopping experience. >> come on in, ladies! we're open! >> reporter: blakely is opening spanx first ever stand alone stores. like this one in king of prussia, p.a. >> should victoria's secret be worried? >> i think so. >> reporter: she's now taking on a new set of curves. everything from yoga pants, swim suits and bras. >> i'm wearing one of them right

now. the bra is so comfortable. the idea was, bring it up to speed and get rid of back fat and have it not dig into their shoulders. so the rest of the bra is made out of panty hose. hooks, wires, clasps free. airport friendly. >> reporter: spanx has expanded to more than 200 products, sold in 13 different countries. the simple idea that undergarments can make or break an outfit has turned blakely, at 41, into a forbes cover girl. the world's youngest self-made female billionaire ever. where do you put that in your head? >> i think i mostly giggle when i think about it, because it reminds me of those backdrops you would choose at the mall with your friends? you know, like -- >> reporter: look, i'm sexiest woman alive. >> right. >> reporter: her success had humble beginnings in clearwater, florida. >> i was always trying to figure out ways to make money and do little businesses. i mean, my first memory is

drawing pictures with my friend on a rainy day and then selling them door to door. >> reporter: but her life's biggest pivot point was traumatic. she witnessed her best friend get hit and killed by a car. in her grief, she turned to self-help tapes. >> i memorized all ten tames of wayne dyer's "how to be a no limit person." and that really changed the trajectory of my life. >> reporter: the tapes helped her cope with failure and rejection, like when she bombed the exam to get into law school. she spent seven years selling fax machines door to door. >> sometimes people would be nasty and rip up my business card in my face. i would sit in my car and cry and put in motivational tape and usually just shift my thinking. >> reporter: and then, she had that ah-ha moment that would forever change her life. sparked by a troublesome pair of cream colored pai eed pants. >> you could see the panty line every time i put them on, see the cellulite on the back of my

thighs. i cut the feet out of control top panty hose one time. and i knew that that was the idea that i'd be asking for. >> reporter: so, with $5,000 in savings, she started cold calling hosiery mills. >> one guy called me after i made the rounds, said, i have decided to make your crazy idea. and i found out he ran it by his daughters over dinner and they said, dad, help this girl make it. >> reporter: a great idea with a catchy name. but why spanx? >> i knew instantly it was right, because my product was all about the butt and nobody forgot it. >> reporter: what were the runners up? >> open toed delilah's. >> reporter: what? we would not be sitting here. >> i know, i realize that. >> reporter: as luck would have it, just two months into business, oprah anointed spanx footless panty hose one of her favorite things of 2,000. >> i love spanx. >> reporter: and the rocket had been ignited. >> orders all day and all night. >> reporter: from a one-woman business to a shape ware empire

in just over a decade. >> i fast forward all these years later and to stand in front of my own store is a real emotional moment. >> reporter: her husband says she's a business titan because she still listens to her intuition. >> she didn't go to harvard business school. she just trusts her gut. she entered a male-dominated space with no business experience and said, i'm going to go for it. >> reporter: blakely wants to launch a new generation of female entrepreneurs. for now, through a starter program called leg up. >> and it's my way to pay the oprah moment forward. so, this is a girl named lindsay. she invented a flip-flop that -- >> reporter: oh, cool. the key to blake lip's success is all about taking that lightbulb moment and keeping it glowing. >> if you are in search of your idea, put on your awareness glasses, look at things differently. i mean, there are million dollars ideas everywhere. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm juju chang in new york. >> what an all-american success story there. thanks to juju for that. up next, british soccer

sup superstar david beckham on family life, his career and bending it one last time for the l.a. galaxy. ♪ how advanced is the new ford fusion? well...it has outstanding performance and handling... ...and it offers a plug-in hybrid that gets a projected 100 mpge. of course, there's still one thing it can't do.

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it was just six years ago that british soccer star david beckham made the bombshell move stateside, helping ignite a sharp uptick in american interest in his sport. well, this week he announced he'll be leaving the l.a. galaxy, but he's not hanging up his legendary cleats for good. our sister network espn's resident soccer star julie foudy brings us this "nightline" interview. >> david beckham will no longer be bending it for the los angeles galaxy. >> nobody else in the world does it quite like he does. >> reporter: when you first arrived, did you ever have those moments of, "what am i doing

here? did i make the right decision?" >> when i first arrived, i was excited. when i played my first game, i was like, okay, this is going to be tough. this is going to be tough. i knew that coming here was always going to be a challenge. and i knew that it was going to be a challenge that i was going to enjoy, because the moment i stepped foot on u.s. soil, the moment i stood in front of the press that was here on the first day that i arrived, the moment that i met my teammates, i knew that i made the right decision. >> mr. david beckham. >> reporter: i remember that first press conference. you were trying desperately to say soccer instead of football. >> the most important thing is my family. the second thing is the foot -- the soccer. i'll get used to that at some point. i still call it football because to me, it is football. >> we also have a young up and comer on the team, a guy named david beckham. he is tough. in fact, it is a rare man who can be that tough on the field and also have his own line of underwear.

♪ i'm just a soul ♪ oh lord ♪ please don't let me be misunderstood ♪ >> reporter: how did the decision to move on go over with victoria and the kindkids? >> they understand it. the other half always goes through difficult times because we are always away. my wife is a working wife and i love that about her. she's a working mom, she's the most amazing mom to her children. she's a hard working lady. >> reporter: i know you've been quiet on what's next but what area of the world entices you the most to play in? >> i honestly don't know yet. i feel very honored at 37 years old i'm still having the top clubs that have come in and wanted to talk to me.

it's kind of amazed me. i came here six years ago, i said that i was committed to being an ambassador for this game and for this league, for this country and for around the world and that's never going to change. >> david beckham. thanks to julie foudy. you can watch beckham's last game this saturday on espn. thank you for watching abc news. check in for "good morning america." we're always online at abcnews.com. jimmy kimmel is next. see you tomorrow. tonight on "jimmy kimmel live" -- martin short. >> day three, there was a rash that went like that. and i'd be like -- sorry, i can't play today, coach. >> and from "life of pi," suraj sharma. >> suraj. suraj. >> yeah. >> your mother isn't your friend.