The Beckhams made millions by cashing in on their wholesome family brand, but as the war rages with their eldest son Brooklyn, he’s claimed that reality definitely does not mirror Instagram
After months of subtle warfare, Brooklyn Beckham has pushed the button and dropped a nuclear bomb with a sensational statement denouncing his parents.
Rumours of a feud first swirled in the run-up to Brooklyn’s 2022 wedding to billionaire socialite Nicola Peltz. And when the pair gave dad David Beckham’s 50th birthday celebrations a wide birth last year, the fall-out quickly gathered heat.
What followed was months of briefings and counter-briefings – Brooklyn had cut ties with his grandparents; Brooklyn was actually in touch with his grandparents. The row had been sparked by a wedding dress and a first dance. Nicola is a ‘narcissist’ who wants to control Brooklyn, who his family have reportedly nicknamed the ‘hostage’. His brothers Romeo and Cruz both weighed in with the latter claiming they’d all been blocked, reportedly after mum Victoria liked a video of Brooklyn roasting a chicken.
READ MORE: David Beckham pointedly ignores question about son Brooklyn in awkward momentREAD MORE: Victoria Beckham’s show of support for son Cruz shortly before Brooklyn attack
And while the full truth is yet to be uncovered, Brooklyn has firmly set out his side of the argument, insisting that he is anxiety-free for the first time in his life after escaping a family who prioritise ‘brand’ above everything else.
‘Control and coercion’
Speaking out after sources claimed that the hot sauce creator wanted to make peace with his parents, he blasted: “I do not want to reconcile with my family. I’m not being controlled, I’m standing up for myself for the first time in my life. For my entire life, my parents have controlled narratives in the press about our family. The performative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships have been a fixture of the life I was born into.”
Getting to the issue at heart, he alleged that his family has taken against Nicola and accused his mum of bringing ex girlfriends back into his life in a bid to cause trouble. “My parents have been trying endlessly to ruin my relationship since before my wedding, and it hasn’t stopped,” he raged. “My mum cancelled making Nicola’s dress in the eleventh hour… Weeks before our big day, my parents repeatedly pressured and attempted to bribe me into signing away the rights to my name.
“During the wedding planning, my mum went so far as to call me “evil” because Nicola and I chose to include my Nanny Sandra, and Nicola’s Naunni at our table, because they both didn’t have their husbands. The night before our wedding, members of my family told me that Nicola was ‘not blood’ and ‘not family’… Even my brothers were sent to attack me on social media, before they ultimately blocked me out of nowhere this last summer.
“My mum hijacked my first dance with my wife… My wife has been consistently disrespected by my family, no matter how hard we’ve tried to come together as one. My mum has repeatedly invited women from my past into our lives in ways that were clearly intended to make us both uncomfortable.”
Dr Jane Halsall, a chartered counselling psychologist, believes that his uncharacteristic outpouring – that is bound to enrage and sadden his PR-savvy family – will have been borne of a desperate need to take some power back.
“From a counselling psychology perspective, speaking publicly after prolonged privacy is often not impulsive, but a last-resort boundary,” she told The Mirror. “Estrangement frequently emerges when repeated attempts at private repair fail, particularly where power imbalances, loyalty conflicts, or emotional coercion are present. Public disclosure may be a way of reclaiming agency when private channels no longer feel safe or effective.”
Why Brooklyn exploded
“For my entire life, my parents have controlled narratives in the press about our family. The performative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships have been a fixture of the life I was born into,” Brooklyn wrote.
Indeed, from the moment he was born, he was in the spotlight. From his designer suit at his parents’ wedding to glossy magazine shoots and appearances on the football pitch, baby Brooklyn was a firm part of the ‘brand’.
And that monetisation of a youngster will have left its mark, according to experts. “The conversation around monetising Brooklyn from a young age is complicated,” says Mayah Riaz, a PR to the stars. “Children raised in famous families often don’t realise where the brand ends and where they begin. That can absolutely affect identity and autonomy later in life. However, participation does not automatically equal exploitation, especially when it’s framed as family rather than commerce. The nuance often gets lost in headlines.”
Psychologist Dr Jane Halsall says that growing up in the public eye from a child’s earliest days of awareness can leave them feeling like they have little control over their own narrative and are instead just part of their parents’ ‘performance’. “Individuals raised in highly public families often experience a loss of narrative ownership, where personal identity becomes entwined with brand, image, and public performance, as referenced by Brooklyn when he stated the expectation was to prioritise family photo shoots and events over personal commitments,” she says.
“Over time this pressure, this can lead to emotional invalidation and a sense of being instrumentalised rather than genuinely seen.” This means that in Dr Halsall’s opinion, it’s unlikely that Brooklyn’s statement was made “impulsively” but rather a desperate “last resort” after a prolonged period of feeling out of control, battling conflicting loyalties and even “emotional coercion”.
“Importantly, asserting independence does not equate to rejection of family; it often reflects a need for psychological survival and identity consolidation, especially during life transitions such as marriage.”
Brooklyn’s taken the narrative into his own hands with his statement, as well as expressing his desire for a life of, as he put it, “peace, privacy and happiness for us and our future family,” rather than “a life shaped by image, press, or manipulation,” something he explains he and Nicola, “do not want”.
Going public with his family grievances, whilst also desiring a private life might seem on the surface to be somewhat contradicting positions, but Dr. Halsall explains this is actually a “healthy” sign that the 26-year-old is looking for “autonomy”.
“Advocacy for privacy and the decision to speak out are not contradictory – both can stem from the same core need: autonomy,” she explains. “In this sense, the statement may represent not rebellion, but differentiation – the healthy, if painful, process of becoming one’s own person outside the ‘Beckham Brand’.”
Mysterious contradictions
Many of Brooklyn’s claims have been called into question, such as the dress debacle which he suggests left Nicola in a frantic scrabble for a gown. But, in a resurfaced interview with Vogue, bridal stylist Leslie Fremar claimed that the dress Nicola ultimately wore was a year in the making. According to the article, released in April 2022, the custom wedding look was “the culmination of a year’s worth of conversations with Valentino director Pierpaolo Piccioli’s team”. During this year, there were two trips to Rome to visit Valentino’s HQ and two fittings in the US.
The article also quoted Nicola, who said it was a “no brainer” to call Valentino director Pierpaolo for the dress. It was added that he was her “first port of call”. Nicola herself contradicted the statement about Victoria’s “eleventh hour” decision. In 2022, she told Grazia USA that it was only “a few days” between Victoria agreeing to make the dress and then saying she could not do it.
“We connected to start designing the dress, and then a few days went by and I didn’t hear anything. Victoria called my mom and said her atelier couldn’t make it,” she said.
Elsewhere in Brooklyn’s explosive post, he claimed that Victoria “hijacked” his first dance and ‘humiliated’ him by dancing ‘inappropriately’. “In front of our 500 wedding guests, Marc Anthony called me to the stage, where in the schedule was planned to be my romantic dance with my wife but instead my mum was waiting to dance with me instead,” he said.
“She danced very inappropriately on me in front of everyone. I’ve never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated in my entire life.” He then addressed the couple’s vow renewal, to which his family were not invited. “We wanted to renew our vows so we could create new memories of our wedding day that bring us joy and happiness, not anxiety and embarrassment.”
However, Vogue itself has contradicted that claim stating that the newlyweds’ first dance was to South African singer Lloyiso’s rendition of Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love and that Marc Anthony took to the stage much later at 11pm to perform his track I Need To Know. It says that’s when “Brooklyn invited his mother on stage for a dance and they were joined by David and their 10-year-old daughter, Harper.”
Family reaction behind the scenes
Sir David broke cover to appear at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he pointedly refused to answer questions about the ongoing family drama. On the other hand, sources reveal to the Mirror that Victoria is “in bits” over the escalating feud and the myriad of claims Brooklyn has made about the family, while David is ‘angry’.
“Everyone is in shock,” the source explains, “But Victoria is totally in pieces over this. But, she is worried, as is David, that this will be the end of Brand Beckham, with the claims of the falseness and pretend relationships; they are worried about what else he is going to come out with. They’re still blaming Nicola, feeling she had put him up to this, and it’s all to do with her; they’re constantly blaming Nicola.”
There is one member of his immediate family that Brooklyn is determined to stay close with though, sources tell the Mirror – his 14-year-old sister, Harper. Behind closed doors, the eldest son of Victoria and David has been battling to keep lines of communication open with his little sister, but the “fundamental logistics of his little sister living under the same roof as his parents….makes things very hard, contact-wise.”
The Beckhams’ next move
David and Victoria are famous for their robust denials and legal threats when faced with scurrilous accusations related to David’s alleged cheating. But how will they react in the face of accusations levied by their own son? Their first-born, who, by all accounts, the couple have always been completely devoted to. And what can they do to minimise the damage both to their brand and to the family?
“The world is waiting for the Beckhams’ to speak,” PR expert Mayah Riaz told Daily Mirror. “From a crisis perspective, their strongest move is restraint and they know this well. Silence is power when your brand equity is this high.
“Retaliation would be a huge mistake and legal threats would pour petrol on the fire. An interview would only legitimise the claims. The most likely strategy is what I call dignified containment. No comment, business as usual, trusted friends briefing softly off the record, and letting the news cycle exhaust itself. This kind of story typically peaks within 72 hours unless someone escalates it.”
Future of the brand
Brooklyn did not hold back in his takedown, throwing bricks at the polished brand veneer that his parents have spent years cultivating. “My family values public promotion and endorsements above all else,” he raged, shattering the picture-perfect family image.
“Brand Beckham comes first. Family ‘love’ is decided by how much you post on social media, or how quickly you drop everything to show up and pose for a family photo opp, even if it’s at the expense of our professional obligations.”
So can Brand Beckham survive such an attack? Or is this the end of their billion-pound empire? “There’s no doubt this is a big moment for Brand Beckham, but despite how explosive his posts were, I wouldn’t call it fatal,” says PR guru Mayah Riaz. “Sure, it has caused massive reputation bruising, but it’s not a knockout blow. The Beckhams are one of the most resilient personal brands in the world and they have survived far worse headlines than this. What makes this different is that the criticism is coming from inside the house, which always lands harder.
