Kerry Parnell: Gen Z poster boy Cruz Beckham can’t compare to Hugh Jackman

Cruz Beckham’s topless magazine cover debut shows he’s a Gen Z poster boy but forget the young posers, the X-Men and Boomer Boys like Hugh Jackman still have it, Kerry Parnell writes.

You can keep your Gen Z boys, I’m here for the (Gen) X-Men.

This week Cruz Beckham made his topless magazine cover debut, aged 17.

Cruz, the third son of Victoria and David Beckham, has caused a bit of a hoo-ha for his new cover shoot for i-D Magazine. On it, he’s posing topless, with pink hair, gold teeth and legs akimbo, with his trousers round his ankles.

Fact fans will spot he’s paying homage to one of his dad’s famous undie poses and the magazine says the “generational e-boy” has “pinned down his own signature smize”.

No, I don’t know what any of those words mean, either. In the interview, Cruz talks about how he is working on his music career and although he hasn’t released any tracks yet, according to i-D, he’s “been spending time in Miami with Poo Bear,” so we can expect some tunes soon.

Cruz Beckham in his pants down shoot for i-D Magazine.

Tigger did a good one – it was bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. But maybe I’m getting mixed up.

Anyway, good luck to Cruz, I hope his career goes like a missile and I wish him well for the future.

He’s a Gen Z poster boy and a perfect example of how the fame game has completely different rules these days.

And while he has hit the headlines for what commentators are dubbing a “dreadful shoot”, and getting their own knickers in a knot over, I think they are missing the point. It’s not for us oldies, anyway. Cruz’s post of his cover image received 96,500 likes on his Instagram page, from his 1.9 million fans.

Meanwhile, as a new generation of celebrity men make their debut, unlike days gone by, there’s still plenty of room at the party for the older blokes, who, in my humble opinion, are looking hotter than ever and not just because they’ve forgotten to take off their Patagonia fleeces.

Forget all the TikTok posing of the teens, the X-Men and Boomer Boys still have it.

Hugh Jackman does his annual polar bear plunge. Picture: Instagram

Take Cruz’s dad David Beckham, 46, for example, who looks cooler the craggier he gets, or the incredible Hugh Jackman, 53, who this week shared a video of himself on Instagram doing the “polar bear plunge,” in a freezing ocean, looking like the Greatest Showman he is.

As does Mark Wahlberg, 50, photographed this week in Mexico, on the beach in his boardies, showing his legendary 3am workouts are still paying muscle-money dividends.

But it’s not just the buff blokes I’m celebrating, I have a soft spot for all over-45s, in their jelly belly Dad Bod glory.

So, if you’re feeling sad that things are heading south as you navigate your middle years, fear not chaps, you’re ageing like a fine wine and are corking.

From your navy Dad Jeans, to your shirts and shorts combos, your Gore-Tex jackets and gilets and Seinfeld trainers which are so dated they’ve now come back into fashion, you’re the best.

Even if your hair has gone grey, gone crispy, or just gone, you rock.

And a smize looks better with laughter lines, anyway.