Brooklyn Beckham made a powerful statement after being enraged by a very specific media report, and associate editor Tom Bryant reveals the true motivation behind it.
Waking up in Los Angeles on Sunday morning, Brooklyn Beckham cut a dejected figure as he read another barrage of anti-Nicola headlines. Incensed, he is said to have turned to his wife, and said: “F*** it….this ends now.”
Up until that point Brooklyn had kept silent despite the slew of bad publicity which had engulfed Nicola over the last 12 months. I was told repeatedly that the tantalizing prospect of Brooklyn going public about the rift with his parents was not in the Peltz PR playbook.
Something about him began to unravel as he perused the most recent article, which claimed Nicola had sparked the conflict despite his alleged desire to reconcile with his family. A confidante told me that “he thought the abuse against his wife would never stop until he said something in his own words.” He had no way of changing his mind because he was sick of the lies. and neither did anyone desire. He vowed to end the “bull****” that his parents, he claimed, are responsible for.
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What followed – in the form of the explosive Instagram statement on Monday evening – took everyone by surprise when they read the draft. A pal told me: “Make no mistake those were very much Brooklyn’s words, and from the heart. He spent the weekend agonising over what to say.”
The 26-year-old eviscerated his mother and father over the course of 821 words, which is fair to say he didn’t pull any punches. Every raging itch was ticked off in agonizing detail. It was a complete showdown, from his parents’ “trying endlessly” to his mother dancing “inappropriately” with him at his wedding.
I’ve had a ringside seat to the family feud story as it progressed as a working journalist for the past 12 months. Friends on both sides of the conflict have engaged in combat to spread their message, so I’ve been given access to all the bloody details.
I’ve been asked if I’m Team Brooklyn or Team Beckham repeatedly, but the truth is… I’ve made every effort to not be either. Instead, I made an effort to steer clear of a slew of obtrusive and frequently incendiary viewpoints. Without a doubt, the Beckhams’ friends believe Nicola to have had a nearly hostile influence on their son. I expressed my real concern that she was isolating him from both his friends and his family.
It is overstated to say that the narrative erupted in Brooklyn after David’s 50th birthday party. He regarded his parents as having authorized their friends to “throw Nicola under the bus” at the time, as he does today.
But I maintain the Beckhams’ friends fears come from a good place. They were – and still are – genuinely concerned that Brooklyn is being manipulated, and that this course of action “isn’t the real him.” However this week’s Instagram statement is not the first time that Brooklyn has fought back. To counter the flurry of allegations about his wife last summer, Brooklyn’s friends were determined to set the record straight.
One made the extraordinary claim to me that Nicola has helped Brooklyn “see the emotional abuse and toxic behaviour within his family”. Predictably, it drew an angry response from the Beckhams’ friends who described the allegations as “deeply unpleasant and patently untrue”. But it marked the first time Nicola and Brooklyn ditched the gloves and decided to fight back on their own terms. Some might say it’s a bit rich for Brooklyn to now bemoan his parents for trying to “control the narrative” while allowing his friends to brief on his behalf.
However, a friend of mine says, “Nicola and Brooklyn did not begin this… they have always tried to be nice with the family, and they must be able to stand up for themselves against the negativity that is currently roiling.”
Without a doubt, this fightback spooked the Beckhams and caught them off guard. A source told me that “this salvo was undoubtedly a taste of what was to come.” “No one had been paying too much attention to Brooklyn, which made them believe they couldn’t go nuclear.” However, it’s fair to say that many people felt there was no way to go back that particular moment.
Yet, the negative Nicola stories persisted, even this month. An anonymous source told a newspaper that Brooklyn’s protestations have caused some to be “bemused to the least” after I revealed that he was still in touch with his grandparents because there was “a lot of love for them.” Another instance of Brooklyn and Nicola being attacked for absolutely nothing, according to a source. Who can deny Brooklyn’s love for his grandparents?
Brooklyn pressed the nuclear button this week against this “poisonous” backdrop. However, it remains to be seen whether it actually ends the negativity.
