Inside the Beckham family feud
A rift is growing as one photo from David Beckham’s 50th birthday gave way to a flood of rumours, including why the Beckhams are at war. SEE THE VIDEO
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You can always spot a good celebrity family feud purely by who is tagged or – more pertinently – not tagged on various social media posts. (Or, if you’re Meghan and Harry, who go running to Oprah or writes a scathing memoir about their dysfunctional family first.)
And so it was the absence of Brooklyn Beckham from his famous father David Beckham’s 50th birthday and the subsequent slew of ensuing gushing Instagram posts that alerted the rest of us to the fact that all was not well within Britain’s other Royal Family – the Beckhams.
For a brand carefully curated around the family and social media posts about their beautiful lives and how endlessly supportive they are of one another, Brooklyn’s decision to skip – along with his American wife, billionaire heiress-turned-actress Nicola Peltz – recent celebrations around the soccer legend’s 50th trip around the sun was akin to the start of a genetically blessed World War III.
There were signs of familial trouble – publicly, at least – in late March when David posted fawning messages to his 88 million followers showing his family (minus Brooklyn) decked out in their finest for an early birthday celebration in Miami. The absence of the eldest Beckham son raised eyebrows, particularly since Nicola’s own family is based in the city and the couple were married there in 2022 (covered by Vogue, naturally), but was promptly forgotten because they could have had something more important on that night, like filming Brooklyn’s next cooking video.
But their glaring absence from David’s actual 50th birthday celebrations (he reached the milestone on May 2) set off a celebrity bomb. Despite reportedly being in the UK at the time, Brooklyn and Nicola did not attend any of the multiple celebrations surrounding David’s half century. And they had ample opportunity. There was an intimate (but widely posted) formal dinner at the family’s $20 million-dollar Cotswolds farm, attended by the closest members of the wider Beckham family (David’s parents and sisters, Victoria’s parents and sister – all documented, of course, on social media).
On David’s actual birthday there was an afternoon spent tasting wines at a vineyard in Bordeaux followed by dinner at David’s favourite restaurant in Paris. David, Victoria, Romeo, Cruz, sister Harper and the brothers’ girlfriends were in attendance.
Most tellingly, however, was Brooklyn’s absence from the former England captain’s official birthday bash at the exclusive, Michelin-starred London restaurant, Core, which even the notoriously private Tom Cruise managed to turn up for.
Amid all of the parties and subsequent social media posts, there was not one mention of Brooklyn or Nicola, which was strikingly obvious particularly via the silence of Victoria who previously took any opportunity to post “missing you @brooklynpeltzbeckham xxx”, to her 33 million followers. This time around, he didn’t rate a mention.
Indeed, the absence of Brooklyn (and Nicola) was a very public slap in the face for the always family first, Beckhams.
Brooklyn, who loves to bang on via social media about just how much he loves his famous family, has remained shockingly mute, around his father’s milestone birthday and actually hasn’t liked a post from either of his parents in months, and he last posted a pic with a family member (David) on Boxing Day last year.
Instead, he has continued to spruik his Cloud 23 hot sauce (with the 23 a nod to his dad’s Real Madrid number showing us that he’s still happy to wring every last drop out of the Beckham DNA for his “business ventures”) and has posted incessantly on his Instagram stories about a collaboration with Airbnb (he’ll be hosting an Airbnb “experience” that apparently involves “mixology and chef tastings”).
Nicola’s social media posts have been even more pointed. A few days after David’s 50th, she made the very public move of celebrating her mother and late grandmothers in a gushing social media post on Mother’s Day. The mother of her husband was not mentioned and Brooklyn himself sailed past the day with no public message to Victoria at all.
Initially, the spat was said to be over whispers that Brooklyn and Nicola had a problem with Romeo’s new girlfriend, British model and influencer, Kim Turnbull.
Kim used to go out with Madonna’s son, fellow nepo-baby Rocco Ritchie (keeping up?), and was said to be “close” to Brooklyn at one time. (If paparazzi photos are any indication, they definitely hung out around 2016.)
But Beckham family sources have insisted that Kim has been nothing but a “scapegoat” in the feud, which is said to really centre on his family’s apparent dislike of Nicola. (So far, so and Harry.)
Perhaps, those who take notice of all things Brand Beckham, should have seen this rupture coming down the road.
Since Brooklyn hooked up with Nicola in late 2019 (although were they even a couple until they made their relationship Instagram official in January 2020?), he has seemingly strayed further and further – both physically and emotionally – from his famous family. The 26-year-old’s decision to live full time in Los Angeles is said to be down to the fact that Nicola refuses to spend any significant time in Britain (hello Harry and Meghan) because she won’t be apart from her family, and that is said to have not gone down well with David and Victoria.
But things got publicly rocky when Nicola decided against wearing a wedding dress from Victoria’s eponymous fashion label, preferring to go with Valentino and Versace for the various looks she wore throughout the day (and all lovingly documented by Vogue).
Victoria reportedly saw this as a major transgression, which was compounded by the fact that the Beckhams were reportedly shunted to a lesser table at the reception while the Peltz family were front and centre.
Asked about the alleged feud later, Nicola kicked it into the long grass telling Cosmopolitan in 2023, “I’ve said this so many times: There’s no feud. I don’t know. No one ever wants to write the nice things.”
The family seemingly patched things up and things were good for a while. Nicola accompanied Brooklyn to Victoria’s fashion shows in Paris and to the premiere of David’s wildly successful Netflix documentary, Beckham.
Separately, in a very public show of support, the entire Beckham clan turned up en masse for the premiere of Nicola’s widely panned film, Lola, which she directed, wrote and starred in (one of the more positive reviews described it as “poverty porn”). Even Nicola, who doesn’t seem to love the attention her famous in-laws get, clearly knew that having them at the premiere was a boon.
Sources close to the Beckhams have accused Nicola of using the Beckham association “when it suits her”, and being a “controlling” influence on Brooklyn while her friends have said the falling out has happened because she is shielding her husband from the “toxic” behaviour of his family.
“It’s a desperately sad situation,” one Beckham friend told The Mirror in the UK. “Everyone loves Brooklyn so much and hopes things can be resolved”.
Although with Brooklyn and Nicola reportedly seeking counsel recently during an intimate home dinner with the King and Queen of Montecito (OK, Harry and ), you can’t imagine a gushing family Instagram post – or even a tag – is on the cards anytime soon. But look out for that Oprah interview on the horizon.
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Originally published as Inside the Beckham family feud
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