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Rich, powerful and beautiful they may be, but the Beckhams are almost certainly having a worse day than you. After quite literally years of tabloid speculation and swipes between siblings on social media, the long-rumoured rift between Lord and Lady Becks and their eldest son, Brooklyn, has finally come to a head, with Brooklyn “breaking his silence” in a wordy, six-slide statement to Instagram late on Monday.
If your response to his opus was “I ain’t reading all that”, here’s the lowdown on 26-year-old Brooklyn’s beef, and David and Victoria’s alleged transgressions, so that you can at least pretend you did.
1. The body language experts were right! Kind of
At 800 words, Brooklyn’s statement is the Instagram equivalent of War and Peace, but the topline is this: he has confirmed he is estranged from his parents, and does not wish to reconcile. As widely speculated, the rift is over Brooklyn’s relationship with Nicola Peltz, a 31-year-old actor best known as Brooklyn’s bride but also a presence in the Psycho spin-off series Bates Motel and the fourth Transformers film. The pair began dating in late 2019, confirmed their relationship in January 2022 and married in April 2022. The tabloids and their expert panel of body-language experts have predictably sought to paint Peltz as a fame-hungry American interloper, intent on sowing discontent within Britain’s first family. (Sound familiar?) Now Brooklyn has called that narrative “completely backwards”, saying that if anyone’s been trying to control him, it’s his parents. In painstaking detail, he describes the Beckhams’ disapproval of Peltz and persistent efforts to “ruin” their relationship. “My wife has been consistently disrespected by my family, no matter how hard we’ve tried to come together as one.” The night before his wedding, Brooklyn writes, “members of my family told me that Nicola was ‘not blood’ and ‘not family’” (begging the question: who did they want him to marry?). Though imprecise about the exact legalities, Brooklyn also claims that he was pressured by his parents to sign “away the rights” to the Beckham name, seemingly to prevent Peltz from staking a claim as his bride-to-be.
2. The Battle of the Beckhams will be won block by block
Though it has evidently long been brewing, Brooklyn’s decision to spontaneously serve the tea was seemingly prompted by a recent claim by his brother Cruz. Days before Christmas, 20-year-old Cruz posted his own Instagram story addressing the feud, and rebutting reports that David and Victoria had unfollowed Brooklyn on Instagram. “NOT TRUE. My mum and dad would never unfollow their son … They woke up blocked … As did I.” Brooklyn says now that his brothers Cruz and Romeo, 23, were earlier “sent to attack” him on social media, and blocked him “out of nowhere” last summer. He frames this as part of his family’s long-standing pattern of behind-the-scenes brand management, forcing him to speak out. “I have been silent for years and made every effort to keep these matters private,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, my parents and their team have continued to go to the press … I’m not being controlled, I’m standing up for myself for the first time in my life.” David and Victoria have not yet responded, though you can safely assume crisis talks are in play. Becks was pictured on Tuesday morning at the World Economic Forum in Davos, “struggling to put a brave face on”, surmised the Daily Mail. This year’s theme, ironically, is “A spirit of dialogue”.
3. Family gatherings have been understandably fraught
Brooklyn’s non-attendance at David’s 50th birthday bash last year was a flashpoint in this saga, widely interpreted as evidence of Peltz’s influence. Now Brooklyn says he and Peltz made the trip to London to spend “quality time” with David, but were “rejected” by the patriarch himself. Becks was allegedly only willing to meet with his son at his party, “with a hundred guests and cameras at every corner”, or in private “under the condition that Nicola wasn’t invited”. “It was a slap in the face,” Brooklyn writes. When his family later travelled to Los Angeles, where Brooklyn and Peltz are based, “they refused to see me at all”.
4. The Beckham-Peltz wedding was one for the ages
The other occasion that Brooklyn has sought to clear up is his wedding in April 2022. Nicola Peltz was reportedly due to wear a dress by Victoria Beckham, but was eventually pictured in Valentino, widely perceived as a snub to her mother-in-law. Now Beckham says Peltz was forced to find an alternative after Victoria withdrew the offer at “the eleventh hour”. The drama continued into the big day itself, with Brooklyn claiming that Victoria “hijacked” his first dance with Peltz, embarrassing them in front of their 500 guests. Per Brooklyn’s account, when the singer Marc Anthony called him to the stage for what was meant to be his “romantic” debut with his new bride, “my mum was waiting to dance with me instead”. “She danced very inappropriately on me in front of everyone. I’ve never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated in my entire life.” When Brooklyn and Peltz renewed their vows last year, a few months after his father’s birthday party, he said it was to “create new memories”.
5. Brooklyn brought the grandmothers into it
It is not just Marc Anthony who has been roped into this sorry saga. Another apparent bone of contention over the Beckham-Peltz wedding was their decision to seat their grandmothers at their table and not their parents. Brooklyn says this was because “Nanny Sandra”, David’s mother, and “Nicola’s Naunni” were both without husbands, while Posh and Becks sat at another table “equally adjacent” – but it seems that Posh was at best displeased. “My mum went so far as to call me ‘evil’,” Brooklyn says.
6. Victoria’s been rifling through the ex files?
Another recent escalation in the drama has been brother Romeo’s relationship with the model/DJ Kim Turnbull. Romeo and Turnbull began dating in late 2024, and attended David’s 50th birthday together last summer. Turnbull has also frequently been pictured spending time with Posh. When she and Romeo briefly split up last year, a source told the Daily Mail it was “a huge shame” as “David and Victoria really adored her”. The relationship was initially controversial as Turnbull had historically been linked to Brooklyn. Cruz has denied that the two ever dated. But Brooklyn appears to allude to this fraternal fracas in his statement, accusing his mother of engineering encounters between Brooklyn and Peltz and his former flames, “clearly … to make us both uncomfortable”.
7. … not to mention ‘displaced dogs’
Through all this unpleasantness, the Peltz-Beckhams have sought comfort from their four dogs, known collectively on Instagram as the “@peltzbeckhambabies”. (Announced by Peltz to much fanfare last July, the account was only active for a week, and still has barely over 500 followers.) Peltz in particular is an outspoken animal lover, and has previously partnered with rescues and called for stronger laws to protect “our fur babies”. In 2024 she launched legal action against a dog groomer over the alleged “malicious abuse” and sudden death of her chihuahua (and her other dog). The dog groomer denied the allegations. Early last year Peltz and Brooklyn were reportedly “set to launch” the non-profit Peltz Beckham Foundation, dedicated to helping homeless dogs in Los Angeles, but that did not come to pass – perhaps because of the contentions Brooklyn describes now over using the Beckham name. His statement memorably cites his family’s lack of support for his wife’s animal welfare initiatives as yet more evidence of their disrespect: “The one time my wife asked for my mum’s support to save displaced dogs during the LA fires, my mum refused.”
8. Nobody bends it like the Beckhams?
By-the-by as some of Brooklyn’s allegations may seem, his account of his parents’ apparently ruthless back-channel machinations to protect “Brand Beckham” explosively calls into question some of their recent cosy press. Both Posh and Becks have been the subject of Netflix docuseries, cementing their legacy as King and Queen of Cool Britannia. Brooklyn attended the 2023 premiere of Beckham, posing alongside both his brothers, but was absent from Netflix’s party for Victoria Beckham last October. Now Brooklyn writes that he “grew up with overwhelming anxiety”. “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.” Between his highly public, personal attack on a British institution and his American bride, many have compared Brooklyn to Prince Harry, and suggested he might be angling for a Netflix documentary of his own. He and Peltz at least have the support of Rebecca Loos – David Beckham’s former PA, who was vilified for claiming to have had an affair with him back in 2004. Beckham has always denied the alleged infidelity, including in his 2023 docuseries. Responding to a commenter on Instagram, Loos wrote: “So happy he is standing up for himself and speaking publicly finally!!!! I have felt so bad for his poor wife, knowing too well what they can be like!” Quoting Brooklyn, she added: “The truth always comes out.”
9. It’s not just the ‘brand’: the family may never recover
Meanwhile, the internet hasn’t been so energised since Lily Allen’s tell-all album West End Girl – as acknowledged by the singer herself, who posted a picture of the cover with Brooklyn’s face in place of hers. While the tabloids rush to stand up and flesh out Brooklyn’s many varied claims, his post has sparked broader discussion of the issue of family estrangement, with growing numbers of young people reportedly cutting off their parents. “The whole thing is very Oedipus Becks,” commented the broadcaster David Baddiel on X. Brooklyn has sought to frame “stepping away from” his family as a happy development, saying he is now free from anxiety for the first time in his life, and has found “peace and relief” with Peltz. But it also seems fair to say he’s not yet found his calling in life, as evinced by his short-lived forays into modelling, photography and professional cheffing. Nor has he successfully escaped from his family’s spotlight. Far from having the last word (or 800 words) on the story, Brooklyn might have only brought it extra time.
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